Unfortunate Mishaps
by WaffleSky
Summary: When Lightning McQueen gets into a horrible car wreck during a race, Will he survive and be able to race again? Times are really getting tough, and a rival just had to come at the wrong time. Who is this strange car that suddenly wants revenge on McQueen?
1. Chapter 1: The dangers of Racing

Disclaimer: I do not own Cars or any of the Characters enjoy the story!

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><p>It was a relatively nice and sunny day out this specific Friday morning, but as it was slowly reaching late afternoon, out came the dark and threatening clouds in the sky. Today was yet again, another big racing day for Lightning McQueen, but things weren't beginning to look so good with the weather.<p>

Every car was already here, and the people who were in charge of this race had decided to go on with it, despite the storm clouds threatening the race.

Having the racers get to their starting point on the track, an all too familiar voice came through the radio headset hooked up to Lightning, who was straight forwardly focusing on the track ahead if him.

"Hey, are ya ready, Kid..?" The voice belonged to none other than thee Doc Hudson. The former racing legend casually asked in his stern, but relaxed tone of voice, although he probably already knew the answer to his own question.

"I _am_.." Lightning said in a determining tone of voice, revving his engine in preparation.

"You'll do great. Just keep your attention on the track, and _don't_ get distracted again, ya hear? They said that the weather would be alright for a while, at least until the race is done, but If it starts raining hard, they're gonna just stop the race because the track might get slippery and get dangerous; Got it?" Doc explained.

"Got it." Lightning agreed and slightly narrowed his eyes at the track, ready to win today's final race.

Down at the pits, Sally hadtagged along with Doc this time to watch Lightning race. It had been going on a year and a half since Sally and Lightning had been together, and Sally had been at almost every one of Lightning's races, encouragingly cheering him on. But, you know, there was never a time where Sally had never been worried about Lightning getting into a sudden accident.

She emitted a small exhale and intently watched her boyfriend preparing himself on the track, intently concentrating. Her lips slightly curved into a half-hearted smile and she spoke to herself in a hushed voice, "Stickers, please be careful out there..."

A few short moments later, the flag shot down, and the race began. Lightning kept his place behind three other racecars, trying to get ahead of them in some sort of opening for quite a while until he finally spotted an opening to snatch up. He immediately made his move before anyone else and sped up fast past them, that was until he came right behind Chick Hicks and another new race car by the proper name of Torre Pierce...

"Heeey, Look who's back! Are you ready to loose again, McQueen!" Chick rudely laughed in Lightning's face. "The trophy is all mine!" Chick finally began getting on Lightning's nerves.

"Shut up, you...-" Lightning growled angrily under his breath, but then remembered in his head not to get distracted and kept his eye on the track, trying to block out Chick's unnecessary and inappropriate shouting.

"Aw, Is widdle _lighty_ getting angry, Huh?" Chick teased him to the edge, watching, as Lightning got more furious by the second.

"Don't... Call... Me... THAT!-" Lightning shouted in irritation, but then suddenly heard an older voice through his headset.

"Hey. Lightnin'. Don't loose your temper, Kid... He's just saying those things to get you angry and distracted. Come on, you only have four more laps left, now. Just ignore him and keep going!" Doc demanded as he intently watched Lightning speeding around the track.

"I know, You're right, Doc." Lightning let out one big sigh, ignoring the rest of Chick's rude statements and then very quickly, sped up far ahead of Chick.

"HEY, YOU BASTARD, GET BACK HERE!" Chick angrily screamed, trying to catch up to Lightning.

"In your dreams." Lightning muttered under his breath, the finish line finally coming in view.

Lightning was getting more anxious then excited by the second as soon as he saw the finish line in sight. Picking up more speed, Chick finally caught up to Lightning and intentionally kicked Lightning's back tire, spinning him out uncontrollably.

"What-! Woah woah WOAAAH!" Lightning tried braking as hard as he could, but it didn't provide any help as he went suddenly sent flying, slamming hard into the solid concrete wall, knocking him out cold right there.

The other cars that were behind had inattentively crashed into Lightning at full speed and burned out tires were sent flying across the infield, cars beginning to dangerously smoke up until it looked like a large pile of cars created a bonfire, except with no fire, just thick smoke.

The moment Doc witnessed the horrible scene right before his eyes, he couldn't do anything but stare, frozen in place, as the memories of him in his past wreck all came flooding back to him, but this was possibly the worst wreck he's ever witnessed. Doc suddenly heard a small gasping sound that sounded like it came from Sally. Doc listened in disbelief, knowing that Sally had probably just witnessed the biggest wreck in history right before her very eyes.

There was a horrified gasp that emitted from the crowd, then not one car made a single move. It was almost like time had stopped for everyone, even Chick Hicks, and that was when thunder loudly crackled in the sky and rain poured down heavily. Multiple emergency ambulances rushed onto the track, rolling cars back into the pits or into the ambulances, depending on how severe they were wrecked. Everybody could only stare in awe.

It remained silent.

Very Silent.


	2. Chapter 2: Wrecked

Chick Hicks had passed the finish line without realizing what had just happened behind him until he turned around. His eyes widened in shock as he saw what was causing every single person in the stadium to suddenly go silent. The other racer that was close to Chick had violently braked, stopping before he touched the finish line and turned to look back at the unbelievable wreck. The paramedics rushed quickly over to the scene and pulled the not so bad cars away so they could get to the severely injured.

Sally stared at how badly damaged some of those cars were, before she realized none of the paramedics had found Lightning yet. She suddenly went into a state of panic and yelled to Doc.

"D-Doc, Where's Stickers?"

At her words, he'd realized that they never had took out Lightning yet, and after she had said that, he grew deeply worried inside.

"Sally-" Doc was about to tell her something, but then he saw her hastily rushing on the field through hundreds of paramedics and a few perfectly fine, but shaken up race cars. Two paramedics held her back, making sure she didn't get past. She frantically screamed about Lightning and Doc clearly seen the shock and realization on the paramedics faces as they had then let go of Sally and rushed back over to the scene, having forklifts and tow trucks get the other cars off of a certain someone and that someone was Lightning. The entire audience had gasped and let out a few frightened sobs when a very injured Lightning was freed from the pile. Sally couldn't believe her eyes. How could he just end up like this in just a few seconds? He was just fine a few minutes ago, was this all just a nightmare...? Thousands of worried thoughts came flooding her head. She felt like breaking down crying right there on the field, but she held it in with all her might, wanting to be strong at the moment.

She drove over to the ambulance they were carefully lifting Lightning in, but was suddenly stopped before she could make another move by a nurse.

"..Excuse me, miss...- I'm Mrs. Winston, but you may call me Eleanor. I'm one of the assistant nurses here. Some aren't really allowed to be in the ambulance unless they are a relative or very close to the patient, but I just so happened to see you talking to the other paramedics about Lightning, and you seemed pretty shaken up and worried to death. If you desperately have to, I can allow you to come with me. He seemed to still be a little conscious, and we need to keep him awake as long as possible so I thought maybe you can be in there to keep him awake.. We don't want him slipping into a coma during the ride.." Eleanor quietly spoke to Sally, making sure no one else had heard her.

"...R-Really? Oh, Thank you so, so much..! I'm his Girlfriend, if there was any confusion. And, my name is Sally Carrera, by the way.."

"You're welcome, Miss Sally." Eleanor smiled politely before slowly driving towards the ambulance.

When a paramedic saw Sally heading towards the open ambulance Lightning was in, he immediately stopped her in her tracks.

"Excuse me miss, but you are not allowed to-" Eleanor, who was thankfully behind Sally, suddenly cut him off.

"It's okay, She's with me." Eleanor said as the guy backed away from her, giving them access to the ambulance.

"Oh, my apologies. Please come right through then.." He let them through, watching them as they entered the ambulance, the door quickly closing shut behind them.

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><p>Chick had been given his trophy for being 1st place, but he felt guilt deep, deep inside of him. He was asked many questions by the reporters, but didn't reply to any of them and instead drove off, everybody leaving not too much later. Chick couldn't believe himself. He never really hated lightning, just was a little jealous of him. He felt that he needed to do something, but didn't know what...<p>

**-In the Ambulance**-

Sally observed as Eleanor had connected Lightning to an IV, hooked him up to a few portable machines, Bandaged him up a bit and cleaned him up a little, using a wet cloth to remove any dirt on him.

"mmngh..." Lightning groaned, his eyes covered in bandages to prevent his injury to become worst.

Sally immediately perked up at the faint noise and held a worried expression within her face.

"Stickers, Are you okay..? It's me, Sally.. I'm right here with you.." Sally spoke to him in a soft, comforting voice. It was really hard to keep herself from breaking down crying in front of him and Eleanor.

"I..It.. mnfh.. Hu...rts..." He managed to mutter, but winced in horrible pain as he made just a little move, causing him to feel dizzy and wanting to pass out. "uunnngh..." he moaned in pain.

"I know, Sweetie.. You'll be okay... You can do it.. Just..- just hang in there..." She whispered soothingly to him and gently touched his un-injured tire, earning a somewhat relieved sigh from him and saw him relax a little.

Eleanor smiled a bit from the other side of Lightning.

"Oh, How sweet you are, Miss Sally..." He started in a whisper. "I sure hope he realizes how lucky he is to have such a lovely car like you to care for him like that.." Eleanor smiled sweetly, keeping her eye on a machine.

"I hope he realizes that too.." Sally chuckled a bit, hearing a small grunt from Lightning.

They stood in silence for a while, hearing a few more painful sounds from Lightning whenever they drove over a bump and Sally was right there to comfort him whenever he was in pain.

Only a block away from their destination, Eleanor began preparing Lightning, Unhooking a few wires from him as they came to a final stop and the ambulance doors flew open. Sally quickly drove out and gave some room for the doctors to maneuver Lightning out. They wheeled the gurney out of the ambulance and they brought a low bed outside to take him in on. Carefully, they picked up Lightning and cautiously placed him on the new bed, and immediately wheeled him in with Sally following close behind.

The nurses and doctors wheeled him into a special room, re-connecting wires to him and cleaning him up, making sure to take every spec of dust as to make sure he would be clean for the procedures they would have to do. He had been damaged pretty badly. He had two severely broken wheel axles, his body had severe burns in the darkest shades of grey, his engine had burned out, his paint was scratched off pretty badly, his windshield was completely shattered and he would have to go in for surgery for that tomorrow, as it was already getting too late to do it now. Lightning was literally a big wreck, and they didn't know how they would fix him, but they promised to do everything they possibly could to completely fix him.

Sally had been told she wasn't able to come into the room at the moment but they would inform her as soon as possible that it was okay for her to come see him. Sally waited by herself in the waiting room for a rough seven whole hours, until a doctor finally came up to her with some news.

"Well, Mrs. Carrera, I have some good news and some bad news. I will tell you the good news before I go on."

Sally nodded anxiously, listening carefully.

"The good news is that we were able to fix his broken wheel axles but that will take quite sometime to heal up properly, maybe a rough 2-3 months. We replaced his bad engine with a brand new one in ease, and we also managed to fix his windshield a little and we will continue repairing the windshield tomorrow afternoon. We stopped him from leaking too much oil, and we also fixed quite a few of his dents."

"Thank goodness...- and the bad news..?" Sally quietly added, kind of not wanting to hear the bad news after all...

"After we do the final surgery on his windshield, there will be a very high chance that he will be blind... If we didn't finish the surgery, that would cause another problem to happen, which would possibly cause more harm than good. But if you're lucky, 16 hours after the surgery and we take the bandages off, he just might regain his vision..."

"Oh my goodness..." Sally muttered under her breath as she felt herself slowly shatter into a million pieces. She could just imagine how Lightning would feel if he was never able to see anything ever again. That would mean he would have to give up racing for good. She couldn't possibly live like that knowing that the car she loved so dearly would be depressed everyday, seeing nothing but darkness the rest of his life.

"If you'd like, you're welcome to stay the night with him... We moved him into another room a floor up to get him a nicer and more comfortable room."

"Yes, that would be nice, thank you." Sally softly sighed to herself in a bit of senseless relief.

"This way, please." The nurse led Sally to an elevator down the hall and they went only a floor up, silently drove down two long hallways and were led to a door on the end of a hallway. Room 213.

"And here you are." The nurse quietly nudged opened the door for her and in the far right corner of the room was where Lightning was soundly asleep.

Sally quietly drove in and went right to his side. She gently ran her tire against his side, but got no response from him. It was quiet, besides the soft beeping of the monitoring machines connected to him.

Sally could do or say nothing as she just stared at Lightning. He was dented badly on his rear end and his right side. He had bundles of wires flowing out from underneath him, he had a light clear blue breathing mask over his mouth and bandages wrapped around his eyes (windshield).

"...Stickers... Please get better, for me... It hurts me so much to see you like this.." She cautiously inched closer to him and kissed him on the cheek very lightly as she then whispered a small, '_I love you'_ to him.

A while later, she suddenly couldn't keep her eyes open anymore and she yawned softly, glancing over to Lightning one last time before her slumber. "..Goodnight, Stickers..." She whispered then kissed his side gently, letting herself immediately relax beside him. She closed her eyes and drifted off into a peaceful sleep, hoping for a better tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3: Surprises

Sally had eventually woken up to the sound of beeping machines, forgetting she was even in a hospital at first. She slightly shifted herself to get a better look at Lightning, but couldn't tell if he was awake or still asleep, so she very quietly whispered to him.

"Stickers… Are you awake..?"

"...y..yeah..." He lowly whispered quietly but just enough for Sally to hear him.

"...Are you feeling any better?" Sally turned to completely look at him, checking over his bandages to make sure they were all still secure.

"I'm.. ngh... still.. in pain..- but.. not as bad.., as yesterday.. and just.. just really sore..." He replied tiredly, letting a faint yawn escape his lips.

"Well, that's a plus.." Sally slightly smiled and drove slowly to a large window. She enjoyed the view the room had. There were large beautiful trees, a small river, a little resting section and what seemed to be a street curved around the area. She closed her eyes, the sun was shining so brightly through the window it was comfortably warming her up, nearly making her fall back asleep until-

'Knock' 'Knock' 'knock'

Her eyes snapped open and she loudly said, "Come in!" The sudden outburst from her must have startled Lightning a bit as she saw him jolt lightly then groan.

She drove up to Lightning whispering a small, "Sorry..!" and went to the door, unlocked then opened it to see a Doctor with a note board.

Sally backed up as he came in and closed the door behind him.

"Hello you two, I just wanted to see how Mr. McQueen here was doing. I see he looks alright right now, but first, may I speak to you privately out in the hall, Miss..?" The Doctor uneasily asked Sally.

"Oh, sure thing..." She nodded in agreement. "Stickers, I'll be right back.." She told him in a whisper before she left the room with the Doctor. Lightning just sighed and tried to relax but couldn't, suddenly feeling determined today to try to get moving even a little.

Out in the hallway, The doctor had let out a sigh and looked at Sally.

"My name is Mr. Sarneck and I've just come to stop by today to give you some news.." He began,

"Ever since yesterday, he was the most wrecked car we've ever seen in history in this hospital and we were positive that he wouldn't make it through the night.. It's a shocking thing to see that he's still alive. But over time, you might just never know.. Seeing him in his condition last time I saw him yesterday, I knew his time was up.. I really think you should consider saying your goodbyes to him.. There's nothing else we could possibly do, the wounds were too severe-"

"STOP!" Sally suddenly screamed, refusing the horrid words that he said to her.

"E-Excuse me..?" He moved back a few inches from her, realizing how angry and upset she looked.

"Don't say such things... He _WILL_ make it.. You just watch.." She said angrily and went back into the room, leaving the doctor outside in the hallway by himself.

He just sighed and drove off.

Back inside their room, Sally was at the far end of the window away from Lightning, tears were threatening to escape her eyes. She sniffled quietly but Lightning still heard her, and was getting worried himself. He knew that Sally was upset...

"..Sal..- A-Are you.. alright..?" He tried talking normally, only to wince in pain and whisper his words.

"I'm fine, Stickers. Don't worry about me.." Her voice shook uncontrollably while she spoke and KNEW that lightning heard that for sure.

"Sally, you know I hate it when you lie to me..." He said a little louder.

"The Doctor said you wouldn't make it. You should have died yesterday but you made it through the night and survived. They don't know if you'll make it through another night but I told them that I didn't believe that. I know that you'll make it like you did last time.."

"That's exactly... what they said.. last time, remember? But.. that didn't happen.. They said... I would never race again, but... did that happen? Sal, don't listen to what they say... I only need lots of rest... and time with you.. to make me feel better.." Lightning smiled just slightly.

Sally gave him a sudden look of sincerity and slowly drove up to him and kissed him very lightly, earning a content sigh from him.

"Oh, I love you, Stickers.." Sally whispered softly, closing her eyes and leaning against him gently.

Lightning took a few seconds to get used of Sally against him and after a while, relaxed with her.

"Love you too, Sal.."

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><p>A car drove into the hospital with a rather large red plastic bag. He slowly approached the nurse at the front desk and questioned her.<p>

"Hey, is Lightning McQueen here?"

The secretary of the main desk glanced up and saw the car, her eyes widening in complete awe.

"O-Of course! He's upstairs in room 213." She hastily said as she watched him drive off. She couldn't believe whom she just saw.

The mysterious car drove upstairs and scanned through the hallway, searching for room 213.

As soon as he finally spotted it, he lowly sighed to himself and used his tire to knock a few times.

'_I can't believe I'm doing this_...' He soundlessly thought to himself as he waited.

'knock' 'knock' 'knock'

'Great, who could that possibly be now...?' Sally soundlessly thought to herself as she slowly let go of Lightning and made her way to the wooden door.

Slowly opening the door, she froze with wide eyes and her mouth agape.

She couldn't believe who was right in front of her.

"C-CHICK?"


	4. Chapter 4: Ways of Recovery

"CHICK?"

Lightning suddenly felt a very heavy, uneasy feeling in the room.

"Yeah, Yeah...- Listen, I know that I would be the last person you would expect to come visit, but could I talk to McQueen? I have, uh.. Something for him.." He showed Sally the bag and she simply eyed it like it was a bomb.

"Just... Just make it quick.." She sighed in defeat, letting him in. She had hoped she hadn't just made the biggest mistake in her life.

"H-Hey, McQueen.." Chick stuttered in a slightly nervous voice, eyeing the wrecked car before him with an unreadable look in his unusual brown eyes.

"I-Is that... you, Chick..?" Lightning muttered, feeling himself a little frightened, until he felt Sally's familiar figure softly nudge up against him in reassurance.

"What do you want?" Sally asked for Lightning, who was frozen still and listening very carefully since he couldn't see a thing.

"Well, I.. I just.. I.. You see..-" Chick sighed and grunted in complication, slightly tapping his tire down on the ground in defeat. "Lightning, listen, I'm sorry. It... It was my fault...- I get a little too competitive when I get on the track, ya know, and I didn't mean to make you crash so badly. I.. also see that you're a little blind there.." Chick gestured his tire at Lightning, who just sighed. "But when you can see again, I brought you something... Hey, "Sally", make sure that when he's able to see again, give that bag to him.. Alright? I gotta go now.. Get better.. McQueen.." Chick said as he slowly strode out of the room, shaking his hood as he left the hospital.

Sally deeply wondered what was in the bag and was about to look inside of it, but was startled away from it as Lightning spoke.

"...Sally?"

She turned to look at Lightning with a wondering look in her beautiful turquoise blue eyes.

"Yes, what is it?"

"..I.. can't even believe.. he said It.. He said he was _sorry_..." Lightning was frozen in shock. The person that seemed to hate him the most, felt sorry for him!

Sally put the rather heavy present from Chick under a small table and went back to Lightning's side, lightly brushing her tire against his.

"I really think he's trying to be nicer to you, Stickers.. You should be happy."

"That's kind of creepy to me though.. Seeing him being nice is just a little...eugh..." Lightning shuttered a little.

"It just doesn't fit him..." He finished.

Sally just warmly chuckled and looked at Lightning from the corner of her eye.

"You're looking a lot better, you know.. You're even talking a lot more now!" She cheerfully notified him, cautiously touching the side of his windshield with a gentle smile across her lips.

He emitted a small exhale, suddenly thinking about trying to stretch himself out a little... It was really becoming more and more painful from being so stiff.

"Hey Sally, could you help me with something really quick?"

"Sure thing, Stickers. What?" She gladly responded.

Lightning very slowly shifted his right tire out just a bit and winced in slight pain.

"When I tell you to, tug a little bit on my right tire, first.." He said, moving it a little.

"Are you sure? I-I don't wanna hurt you..." She said as she gently took a hold of his right tire like he just instructed.

"Don't worry, you won't... I'll tell you... when to stop, ok? Now... p-pull..."

On cue, Sally gently pulled his tire out as much as possible and stopped when he let out an unexpected hitch in his breathing, clearly a little bit in pain.

"Ahhh...- Okay-Okay; That's good..." He faintly smiled and lowly chuckled, telling Sally to do his other tires for him.

When she was on his back left tire, she was gently pulling when suddenly Lightning winced and groaned loudly in pain, clearly giving her the signal to stop.

She immediately let go of his back tire and lied it back down in it's original place very gently.

"Agh... Ouch, Ouch..." He attempted to relax his back tires a little more to get them to stop throbbing.

"Look's like your back tires aren't that flexible just yet.."

"ngh, yeah.. Thanks, Sally..."

"No problem." She lightly kissed his side lightly and suddenly flicked a light on in the room, since nighttime was finally coming.

"It's getting a little late... You should try getting some rest before your surgery. I think they're supposed to come and get you in about a half an hour.."

Lightning immediately began getting a little bit scared at the mention of his operation.

"I don't... wanna get surgery... What if I...- I won't even be able to see again? What if they.. fail..?" He panicked and suddenly started thinking of all the bad things that could happen.

"Don't say that, Stickers... I can't do anything about that, but don't worry, I'll be right there with you, there's nothing to be afraid of.." She calmly reassured him, nudging against him lightly.

"Thank you.. Sal...- I think I'll just.. rest for a bit, then..." Lightning sighed and tried to relax himself as much as possible.

"Alright..." She said in a soft voice, lightly kissing his bandaged windshield.

Nearly more than a half an hour passed but no nurse or doctor had come yet. Sally sat there wide awake, anxiously but quietly watching her boyfriend soundly sleeping. It was reaching late 8:00 pm, but it was exactly 7:46 pm. She was sitting there, frozen, thinking about Lightning's last crash he was in. It wasn't that bad, but it was the first and most hardest time of her life.

The doctors had rushed lightning as fast as they could into the emergency, immediately trying to get him to wake up.

They connected cables to Lightning and yelled, "CLEAR!" They shocked him once, unfortunately, It didn't work so, they tried it again.

"CLEAR!" Suddenly, he jolted and came back.

"Get him on some fluids, stat!" A nurse yelled, getting special IV's.

Sally could only watch the scene in horror through a small window. Watching death nearly take the last thing that she loved and cared about, right away from her. She harshly broke down in tears and felt like she was about to loose herself completely.

She cried uncontrollably, a nurse came up beside her and tried comforting her.

"Please, Please stay alive..! PLEASE DON'T DIE!" Sally screamed, petrified.

The memory came back clearly to her and she sniffled a bit, blinking her sudden stray tears away.

She went over in front of Lightning and kissed him gently, pressing herself against him not too hard.

"..I really love you..." She whispered, "You'll get better, I promise..."

She suddenly lifted herself from lightning and looked towards the door. She heard what sounded like cars talking outside the door and she slowly backed away from Lightning as the door slightly creaked opened, and she saw two nurses roll in a low gurney with a white blanket over it.

"We're here to take lightning for his scheduled operation now, miss..-" One of the nurses explained as she calmly drove over to Lightning, unhooking him from a few machines and unlocking a break lever connected to him. Lightning exhaustedly woke up in confusion and felt someone he didn't recognize, touching him.

"H-Hey, what's going on..?" He said nervously, his voice sounding a bit drowsy.

"They're taking you to the operating room now. Don't worry, I'm right here, Stickers.." Sally immediately reassured him in a soft tone, trying to get him to calm himself down.

"o-oh.." He bit his bottom lip when they cautiously lifted him up, and placed him on the gurney that was right beside him.

Sally closely kept her place right behind the nurses as they rolled him down the hall, into a very large room that had a lot of machines and surgery lights over the operating section in the middle of the room.

"S-Sal...?"

"Shh, I'm still here, It's okay.." She softly cooed, to let him know thar she was really still there with him.

Sally anxiously watched as they put lightning in the middle of the room and two more doctors came in the room, getting prepared for the operation.

"Okay, we're just going to put this mask over you and it's going to make you sleepy.." A nurse began as she reached over to place it over his mouth; But he immediately turned himself away and resisted.

"N..No..!" He refused in a slight stutter, his anxiety finally grabbing ahold of him.

The nurses struggled to get the mask on him, and that was when Sally sternly spoke towards him.

"Lightning McQueen...!" Sally spoke louder than usual, everyone in the room side glancing a bit at her.

For her, It honestly felt a little strange for her to call 'Stickers' by his full name. She couldn't even remember the last time she called him by that. Or if she ever did...

Lightning immediately stopped and she quietly drove up beside him and whispered to him.

"Stickers, What's your problem? You never give them a hard time!" She loudly whispered to him as the nurses patiently waited until he would finally cooperate.

"I-I'm just... Scared..." He weakly admitted.

"Stickers, you don't have to be.. I'll be right here by your side until you fall asleep, I promise.. It'll be all over with by the time you know it. Can we get this done, now..?" She gently kissed his slightly dented side and lightly held his tire until she felt him relax under her touch, and watched the nurses slowly placed the mask over his mouth.

"Shh, It's alright.." Sally began softly humming a slow, lullaby-like song to Lightning until he was completely under. She quietly stopped and soon drove away from him and made her way to the swinging doors, already knowing that she had to leave. Just before she left, she took one more glance back at Lightning before a nurse went in front of him, making it impossible to see him. She left and whispered to herself, her words lingering in the silent, thin air.

"You can do It..."


	5. Chapter 5: The Surgery

A certain light blue Porsche was nervously waiting back in Lightning's room, and had unknowingly started dozing off a few times. The doctors were doing the operation in the middle of the night for nearly three and a half hours already, but the doctors and nurses we're perfectly wide awake. How they managed to be, left Sally amazed.

But only a few moments later, Sally finally gave in to the sweet sleeping temptation and let herself calmly drift off into a nice little nap.

Back in the operation room, every car was around Lightning. Fixing his windshield, Fixing the rest of his body that was crushed on one side, cleaning him up, making sure all of the correct machines were on him, and making sure both of his front wheel Axles were secure with a cast-like thing wrapped securely around them.

At exactly 3:48 A.M, they had finally completed the procedure and in their opinion, he appeared to be in great condition. They wrapped fresh bandages around Lightning's windshield to assist the healing process to go faster, and in less than 9 hours, they would determine if he had indeed, regained his vision.

Rolling lightning back up to his room, Sally's eyes jolted wide open as she heard the door open with an accidental loud creak and the sound of a gurney rolling into the room.

One of the polite nurses assisted Lightning in placing him to where he was before, and hook him back up to the advanced medical machinery.

The second, cherry red and sophisticated looking nurse, casually strolled up to Sally and spoke to her in a sort of happy and relieved tone of voice.

"Okay, Miss... The surgery was a perfect success. Over time while he was bandaged before we did the operation, his windshield had healed faster than we had originally expected, which made it easier for us to repair. At first glance, his chances for him being able to see again was an unfortunate 2%, but now there is an 95% chance that he may be able to see again. We also had enough spare time to fix the biggest dent in his body as well and we firmly bandaged his wheel axles, so make sure that he doesn't move himself around too much. It will probably be a full 3-4 days until he will get the temporary casts off of his wheel axles. For now, at 2:00 pm we'll come by to take the bandages off of his windshield and wait for the big moment to come!" The nurse encouraged Sally by nudging her tire a little.

"He'll be nice and healthy again; We promise you..."

The generous nurse whispered to Sally, who just smiled.

"Thank you.. Thank you so much.." Sally inaudibly whispered as both of the nurses made their leave.

Sally held a hopeful expression and slowly drove over besides Lightning and really saw how more close to perfect he was becoming. All of the dents in his body were now gone, although he did need to get a new paint job, perhaps by Ramone back at Radiator Springs and all that was left was to anxiously wait and see if he really will get his vision back...

She eventually noticed that the nitrous oxide that was given to Lightning was starting to wear off, because she heard him groan a bit wearily and saw him shift his weight to one side. She was feeling nervous and excited, clearly because couldn't wait until they removed the bandages from Lightning's windshield. She was probably more excited than him!

Sally took a small glance up at the clock and read that it was now reaching five in the morning. She turned herself to look out the window, and saw that the sun was just faintly starting to come up. She also heard little rustling noises and then turned back to Lightning to see him lazily yawning. A warm smile crossed her lips and she half-heartedly chuckled to herself.

"Finally awake, Stickers?"

"...Uh... Uh-huh...-?" He responded tiredly, groaning a bit more before muttering tiredly to Sally. "What did they say..? Will I be able to see again? Because... I really hate having these bandages around me, they're annoying..." He complained.

"Well, the nurse that wheeled you back here specifically told me that the operation was a success and they're coming by in the afternoon to take those bandages off and to see if you get your vision back. They also managed to repair the last of your dents and they put a cast on your broken wheel axles. That would take at least, three months the longest, to heal properly... So just take it easy for a while, alright Stickers?" Sally explained in a calm manner, giving him a reassuring smile afterwards, even though he couldn't see that special smile of hers.

"Yeah...Thanks Sally." He whispered quietly to her and relaxed his overworked body, still feeling really sleepy so he unknowingly dozed off again.

Sally had watched Lightning in a daze and knew he had fallen asleep again and she laughed quietly to herself.

"Just like a baby car... Always sleeping.." She emitted a soft giggle and took a spot beside him and decided to take a nap, too. And before she knew it, they were both in a deep sleep.

Morning had passed a little too quickly for the couple and it was already mid-afternoon. Sally had waked up to the warm sunrays shining brightly towards her and she tiredly yawned, stretching herself out. She glanced at the clock and it read 1:35 pm. It was almost time for the nurses to come back and remove Lightning's bandages. Sally couldn't wait, she was so excited!

On the other hand, Lightning had woke up way before Sally, but was being silent in deep thought... He was, yes, pondering on about his racing career. He wanted to hurry up and get back on those tracks again, but he was also feeling a little hurt deep down... He was getting into a lot of "trouble" lately, specifically meaning accidents. He never used to get so careless like this; He was even starting to think about quitting racing. Because who knows, If he ends up getting into one more accident, that's it for him. He would get killed right on the spot. His past injuries were getting more severe by the day from racing too much and literally tearing himself up inside. He really needed to take it easy and lay back a little but he just couldn't get himself to do it, no matter how hard he tried. Deep inside, Lightning felt so stupid for getting himself in these situations and he truly felt as if he was going to finally loose it. He even deeply hated the fact that Sally had to witness all of this, too. He wanted to give her at least a break for once.. Sally worries a little too much about him and he knew he had to make it up to her someday, just not anytime soon, because of this mess he'd just caused...

Lightning was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard faint voices that were getting eventually becoming louder and louder. He heard Sally's voice and ones that he had never heard before in his life.

A kind-sounding nurse had been speaking to Sally about the removal of his bandages and regaining his vision.

Sally slightly drove away from lightning and freely allowed the nurse do what she had to do.

The seemingly gentle nurse had snipped a section of the gauze and started carefully unwrapping the bandages from Lightning's windshield and carefully looked over him, his eyes still closed shut.

"Okay, Lightning; can you hear me?" She kindly asked while examining him then moving back a bit, giving him some room.

"..yeah, I can... Lightning slightly whispered to her.

"Great.. I'm going to count backwards from 3 and when I say "Open", I want you to slowly open your eyes and tell us what you see and if you feel any pain..." She explained to him, watching carefully and even a bit anxiously.

Sally was parked beside the nurse in front of lightning, but a few feet away from him.

"I know can do it, Stickers..." Sally encouraged him a bit, even though she was terrified, but excited at the same time for him.

'Come on...' Sally thought to herself.

'She's right.. Come on, you're Lightning McQueen, you can do anything! Okay, here we go...' He thought to himself in his head, letting out a somewhat nervous deep breath as he heard the Nurse speak to him.

"Here we go.." She began,

"3... 2.. 1. Open."


	6. Chapter 6: The Best Present Ever

Lightning slowly opened his eyes, only seeing nothing but a big bundle of white blur for a moment. The nurse immediately dimmed the lights in the room and put the curtain back over the window so the strong light wouldn't harshly strain his eyes. Lightning fully opened his baby blue eyes, the dim light helping him see better. He successfully glanced over at Sally who was softly smiling at him.

"..Hey, Sal.." He proudly returned the smile.

"Stickers, how're you feelin?" Sally asked, driving up next to him.

"I feel great, actually..! My eyes just hurt a little, but I know that's to be expected." He closed his eyes for a few seconds and reopened them.

The nurse went up to Lightning and made sure his eyes looked normal by looking over them a bit.

"Oh, one more thing. For his comfort, make sure the room remains dim so the light won't hurt his eyes. In a few days, we can start making it brighter and brighter until he gets used of it. It's so amazing that he could see again though, congratulations!" The nurse beamed at the two and slowly drove to the door.

"I'll be back to check up on him later on. Bye Bye!" The nurse said before she left.

Lightning was busy curiously glancing around at his new surroundings. He admired at how nice the room actually was for being in a hospital. The floor was a nice white marble and was ridiculously shiny, even in low light, and there was a large window to his right with a red silk curtain covering it. There was a nice flat screen tv hung up on the wall in front of him, a small rounded wooden table near the window and... a red bag..?

"-...Sally, what's that?" Lightning slightly gestured at the bag under the table to her.

"Oh, that's the present Chick left here for you... Do you.. wanna see what's in it?" She asked lightning, driving over to it and nudged it a bit closer to him.

"Yeah, I do..." Lightning replied in a seemingly curious tone of voice.

Sally eyed it cautiously, taking out the tissue paper and the large item that was wrapped safely around it. She slowly discarded the tissue paper from it and both of their eyes were wide in shock.

"Is that..-?"

"I-It is..!"

"The Piston Cup?..!" Lightning exclaimed, blinking a few times to make sure his eyes weren't lying to him.

"But I thought Chick won, didn't he..?"

"Here, there's a card in here.." Sally took the card and read it out loud.

"To McQueen,

Don't think I'll do this again for you. When you crashed on the track, I remembered something that really made me open my eyes and realize.. I told the officials that I wanted it engraved to you after you were taken away. It took nearly an hour of arguing with them so you better be happy. I guess you deserved this, after all you've been through... Just get better, Alright? -Chick Hicks "

"...woah..." Was all Lightning could mutter in awe as he stared at the trophy. His trophy. It DID have his name engraved on it. In a way, Lightning felt a little bad.. Chick won the Piston Cup fair and square but he ended up giving it to him instead.

"That's really amazing.." Sally stated, staring at it along with Lightning.

"Uh huh.." he said, still in shock.

Sally carefully took it and placed it on top of the table, tossing the wrapping paper in the trash and placed the small card from Chick on the trophy.

"Why is he being so nice to me all of the sudden? This happened to me before, but he didn't care to do this.." Lightning said.

"Maybe he's really changed.." Sally said,

"I guess so.." He slightly shrugged before suddenly yawning again.

"Getting tired there..?"

"I don't know why I'm always so tired now.." He said in slight frustration.

"Well you've been through a lot and your still healing, Dear... Sleeping a lot is good for you, you know... Why don't you take a little nap? I might go outside for a little while and grab some fresh air.. Will you be ok by yourself for a bit?" She said as she came up beside him, faintly smiling.

"Of course, I'll be fine." He said as he closed his eyes slowly, letting out a small exhale.

She lightly kissed him on the lips and drove to the door.

"Love you, Stickers.."

"Love you more, Sal." He slightly grinned. "Have fun.." He whispered and smiled just before he felt himself finally fall asleep.

Sally laughed softly to herself and soon left the room, driving down the hall and going downstairs using the elevator. When she got to the main floor, she drove to the front doors and let the warm summer breeze flow past her. She drove around a few blocks away and saw a bunch of little stores and apartments crowded together. There wasn't a lot of cars around, but still a fair handful. She didn't really know what to do, so she just decided to go on a little stroll. She was driving down an empty street with houses on each side until she suddenly felt something strange, almost like someone was following her... She just brushed it off and drove a little faster in nervousness. She came to a stop at a small little park area and was staring at a little river that was there in front of her. She suddenly heard a rustling of leaves and turned around quickly. She was starting to seriously get frightened. She drove to a different place and still had that same dreaded feeling. Backing up near a tree, she looked around and was nearly scared to death as a certain someone sneaked up behind her and gave her the scare of a lifetime.

"**BOO**!"

"**AH**!"

When she eventually gathered her senses again, she half-heartedly laughed.

"Mater! What are you doin out here!"

"Ah, I wus just towin' sumone back 'round here where they live an I saw ya drivin down the street an decided to give ya a little scare!" He said, still laughing a little.

"Why are ya here anyways, Miss Sally?" Mater asked in curiousness.

"Ah, well, I just came out here for a while to get some fresh air while Stickers is resting at the Hospital-"

"Lightnin'! Is e' okay?" Mater interrupted, clearly concerned for his best friend.

"Yes, He's doing a lot better, Mater. I'm sure Doc told everyone back at town, right?"

"Ya, he shure did. I could not believe it! I wus afraid my best friend wus gonna die!" Mater exclaimed.

"Thank goodness he didn't." Sally responded, exhaling softly.

"Can I, maybe.. Go see im'? Mater asked Sally, hoping she'd say yes.

"Of course, Mater..! He's sleeping right now, but he'll wake up in a little bit. Just remember when you go in there not to move him a lot.. It still hurts him when he moves a certain way and his eyes are still sensitive from surgery, so don't have and bright lights near him or anything.."

"He done got surgery too..?" Mater hollered in surprise.

"He did. His windshield was completely shattered and they thought for sure that he would be blind for the rest of his life.. That seemed to really upset him but at least he could see now..!" She explained to Mater, who was intently listening to her.

"Ah, I see 'den..." Mater muttered.

"Well, I think we should start heading back before it gets any later, Alright?" Sally said as she slowly started to drive the opposite direction, Mater then following proudly beside her.

"Yup!" He nodded in agreement, following Sally back to the Hospital right at the peak of dawn.


	7. Chapter 7: Missing

Sally was driving on her way to the hospital with Mater accompanying her and of course, it was getting dark outside. Hardly anybody was out tonight, and the dim streetlights were the only fair source of light. Mater was quietly humming a rather cheerful song to himself, taking his sweet time getting to the hospital. Sally was also driving slowly behind Mater, thoughtfully glancing around at the all of the trees and stores.

They were finally in town and Sally was just about to say something rather important to Mater, when the unexpected happened. She faintly gasped into mid-air as she was yanked backwards into a pitch-dark alley and suddenly, she felt unbelievably drowsy. Little did she know, she had passed out.

Mater, completely oblivious to what had just happened, eventually turned to look behind him since he did hear a somewhat strange noise but realized that Sally wasn't behind him anymore.

"Sally..? Sally?" He shouted frantically. He immediately turned back and started looking for any signs or traces of her.

"Miss Sally, Where is you?..! Sally? SALLY!" Maters voice desperately echoed through the empty streets.

Back at the hospital, Lightning had just waked up not to long ago. He stretched both of his front tires very little and yawned, glancing around. He realized Sally hadn't yet returned and just slightly, he started getting a little worried.

"Where is she..?" He muttered to himself, glancing up at the clock.

He felt deep down inside him, that something was wrong, something wasn't right, but he immediately refused to let that thought get into his head and he took a deep breath.

"I hope your safe, Sally.. Please be ok.." Lightning encouragingly whispered as he shut his eyes.

It was dark. It was silent; the only sound that was heard in this foreign environment was what sounded like dripping water. Sally, who was tightly tied up and blindfolded, started panicking in horror.

"mmmfff!" She desperately tried screaming out for help, but a cloth was forced into her mouth and her words were instead muffled. She used her tongue to try to roughly push the cloth out of her mouth but it was harder than she expected. Finally, she coughed it out and started screaming for help.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP!" She shouted as loud as she could. She immediately stopped though, when she suddenly heard faint voices coming closer to her and she shut her mouth.

"..ey, she's awake..-" A rather deep voice said, another car coming towards her.

A yellowish-tinted light was switched on, but it was quite a dim light. She couldn't see anything at all with her black blindfold on her and she's truly never been so scared in her life.

"Hey, girl..-" A stranger suddenly blurted out, inching closer to her. "You know... "Lightning McQueen", right?" The unidentified car asked her in a seemingly demanding tone of voice.

Sally didn't answer.

"HEY, ANSWER ME!" The obvious male car shouted frustratingly at her.

"Y-YES!" She finally screamed in utter fright, tears dripping from her eyes.

"Where Is he?" The car demandingly screamed his reply at her.

She absolutely refused to tell them where his location was and one of the cars suddenly whipped her side harshly with a rope, more tears streaming from her eyes in pain.

"Dammit, she won't talk... Throw her in the river with the others!" The mysterious car, that seemed to be in charge, yelled at his followers.

"With Pleasure." The rusted mahogany car in front of Sally untied her and shoved her into a room with a harshly broken window close to the ground, and a damp floor. The cars had left her alone in that run down room to go get the things he needed to get his next victim, Sally.

She forcibly managed to get her blindfold off as she was shaking in terror. She knew that if she stood here any longer, she would definitely get killed. So, she did the unthinkable. She went to the far end of the room, nervously revved her engine a few times, and as fast as she could, crashed through the window that was in the room.

When she hastily escaped and the second a rush of cool air hit her, she realized that tons of trees, but no signs of buildings or life, surrounded her. Quickly, she rushed off in search of a road that might lead her back to where she needed to get.

Mater had ended up far off in a place that was surrounded by thousands of trees, but he wasn't going to stop just now. He hollered Sally's name many times, but he never got a response. But to his best of his luck, he suddenly spotted a faint flash of headlights far off ahead of him and he immediately drove over as fast as he could.

"-...Sally? Sally!" He shouted as loud as he could when he saw a blur of a light blue car.

Sally braked as hard as she could; nearly slamming into a tree when she heard someone screaming her name but she listened more intently to make sure she wasn't just hearing things, and that this was for real.

"...sally..! Sally..! Sally!" The voice became louder and louder until it became awfully recognizable.

She immediately knew who's voice that was and she was completely relieved. Mater had just found her.

"Mater!" She drove closer to him and panted heavily, trying to catch her breath.

"Sally! Thank goodness ya'r alright! What happened! You dun' disappeared!" Mater exclaimed in shock.

"Some unidentified guys suddenly carnapped and took me to this strange place and they asked me about Lightning, but I said nothing and they said they were going to throw me in the river with the others and I-" She had only said in one breath until she was cut off by a much louder and familiar deeper voice.

"HEY, YOU! GET BACK HERE!-" The same car from earlier screamed, immediately driving after them.

Mater and Sally were both unbelievably frightened to death, but as fast as they could, they both sped off into a different direction of what seemed like the woods. They were being chased for what seemed like hours, but when they had finally lost the car, they slowed down and heavily panted, trying to catch their breath.

"Wh-What do they want!.?" Sally frustratingly said, tears swelling up in her eyes a little bit.

"I have no idea, but look! Tha road!" Mater said, pointing out behind her.

They both immediately drove away from the scene when after nearly an hour of driving, they finally saw the familiar town come into sight.

"There's the town..!" Sally exclaimed, anxiously speeding ahead of Mater.

"Ay, Wait up fer me, Sally!" Mater hollered as he picked up speed and caught up to her when they finally entered town, only three blocks away from the hospital.

"We're almost there..!" She loudly whispered to herself, blinking a sudden blurriness out from her eyes and faintly grinned to herself.

When they drove up right in front of the hospital, Sally wasted no time on heading right in and straight to the elevator. Mater had caught up to her and exhaustedly exhaled.

"Sally, calm down; Dang!" Mater sighed as they both finally drove into the elevator.

Blinking again, Sally suddenly felt very lethargic. She started seeing white dots in her vision and she unexpectedly fainted, going limp against the elevator wall.

Mater, on the other hand, realized Sally was being a little too quiet all of the sudden and he nervously turned to look at her to make sure she was alright, but instead, he went wide-eyed.

"S-Sally! Sally! Wake up! Dadgum, Come on, Sally! Dang, dang, dang, dang... Come on elevater!" Mater panicked, and as soon as the doors came open, he swung his cable and connected it to her front bumper, pulling her out carefully and into the hallway where he thankfully saw two nurses talking to each other and he loudly hollered to get there attention.

"I needa nurse! I needa nurse, quick!" Mater cried out, worried for his friend.

The two nurses quickly dropped what they were doing and at the speed of light, drove over to Sally who was out cold. Mater unhooked the cable from Sally and worriedly watched what was happening.

The two nurses quickly but carefully scanned over Sally while Mater glanced up to see their sudden horrified faces, knowing that there was something terribly wrong...


	8. Chapter 8: Another Problem

Sally was rolled into a room where she would be perfectly taken care of, and Mater had eventually asked a nurse what room Lightning was in. She kindly responded, telling him that he was in room 213 and he thanked her in return, quickly making his way there. He cautiously knocked on the thick wooden door and slowly opened it, squinting in attempt to see since the room was dimly lit for Lightning. But a few more inches into the room, he'd finally caught his best friends attention and he slightly gasped in surprise.

"M-Mater...? Is that you, buddy?" Lightning squinted his eyes a bit, knowing that it 'was' his best friend.

"Shure is! How are ya feelin'?" Mater closed the door behind him, driving up to Lightning.

"Feeling a lot better, actually...- Oh, Where's Sally?" Lightning asked him and Mater suddenly guiltily stared down at the ground, not sure how to break it to him.

"Mater. What happened?" Lightning sternly asked him, Mater taking an uneasy deep breath.

"Well, ya see...-"

After minutes of Mater finishing his explanation of what happened to Sally, Lightning was completely stunned, his mouth agape in disbelief.

"I-Is she okay?" He frantically shouted, not really meaning to but since he was in shock, he couldn't really control himself.

"She's doin' fine now. She don passed out a while ago, but I'm shure the nurses are taking purty good care of her.." Mater calmly reassured Lightning.

ーー

The light blue Porsche had woken up in a white-drenched room with blinding bright lights.

"Wh-What's going on..?" She muttered, seeing a nurse in the room.

"Oh, your awake..! Fantastic!" The nurse exclaimed, checking Sally's vitals on the monitor.

"Am I alright..? Why did I pass out..? What...happened..?" Sally anxiously asked as the nurse unhooked her from the only two machines.

"You passed out because you overheated, but we cooled you off right on time. You're all ready to be up and driving again, since it was only a mild overheating you had, nothing severe." She easily explained to a shaken up Porsche.

Suddenly coming to mind that Lightning and Mater were probably already in his room, she hastily drove out of her room and rushed to the familiar room they were in. She swiftly opened the door and yelled a quick, "I'm.. OK!" to them as they just stared at her with wide eyes.

"Miss Sally, y'ar alright! Wahoo!" Mater hollered, nudging Sally's tire and telling her that he knew she would be ok. She half-heartedly thanked Mater and went by Lightning's side, slightly leaning up next to him. Mater decided that he wanted to give them some time alone, so he slipped out of the room and soundlessly left.

"Sally, are you alright!..? Mater told me everything, I can't believed all this just happened to you..!" Lightning began his uneasy rant as she just simply nodded.

"Those "unidentified" cars.. Why did they ask you about... _me_?" Lightning added, a hint of curious and fright in his voice.

Sally slowly blinked and remembered that part perfectly, bur she sighed and spoke in defeat.

"I have no idea, but I said nothing and kept my mouth shut... They even told me that I was going to be thrown in the river with the others for not speaking.." She slightly shuttered at the memory, but felt Lightning lightly touch her tire.

"Lets not worry about that right now... Let's just be glad that you're here, safe and sound.." In ease, he calmly whispered to her.

"You're right. I'm gonna take a nap, I'm really exhausted..." She stated tiredly, gently resting herself against Lightning.

"I can understand 'why' you're so exhausted. Sleep well, dear..." He gently spoke to her before he drifted off into a sound sleep along with her.

Everything seemed to be getting a little better in Lightning's eyes, and will continue to be. Or, so he thought..

* * *

><p>AN: Not really an author's note for this one. But, I read over the last few chapters and revised them, fixing all of the crummy spelling and bad flow.. Well... It's...fixed!


	9. Chapter 9: A Good Start, maybe

"...**hahaha**!" A voice cackled in evil laughter, Lightning shaking in fear against a cold brick wall.

"Say goodbye, McQueen! _HAHA_!" The mysterious car mercilessly shouted as Lightning heard a loud machine, a sharp saw blade coming straight down towards him. He struggled to move but was too paralyzed in terror and literally screamed bloody murder.

"NOOO!-"

"-…oooo!" Lightning harshly gasped as his eyes painfully shot open, scaring Sally out of her sleep.

"S-Stickers..." She tiredly mumbled and blinked the sleep out of her eyes, turning to glance at him. "Are you okay...?" She worriedly asked, staring at him patiently.

He only said nothing as he panted in fright, staring blankly out into space while trying to get his senses back.

"Stickers?" Sally softly whispered this time? Not wanting to frighten him anymore than he already was.

"I...- I just had a... nightmare, that's all..." He closed his eyes shut. Letting out a deep exhale.

She drove up to Lightning and snuggled against him, reassuring to him.

"It's alright, your safe now..." She spoke soothingly to him, keeping her movement slow and calm as to not frighten or bother him.

Soon enough, Lightning had successfully calmed himself down but in the back of his head, he still wondered what that dream was all about and why he had it in the first place.

He suddenly winced a bit as the bright light from the hallway came flooding into the room, a nurse casually strolling in and slightly waving hello to them with her tire.

"Good morning you two; How's everything been going? The female nurse asked sweetly as she drove up to Lightning and checked his eyes for anything that looked unusual. He only winced a little as the nurse touched a still tender, sore spot on his windshield.

"Everything has been alright, I suppose... He's actually been doing so much better since the last time you came here yesterday." Sally said in her gentle tone of voice, watching as the nurse thoroughly examined Lightning's eyes.

"You've got that right; His eyes are looking really good, It's amazing..! I really think he's ready for brighter light now." The nurse said as she backed up to a nearby light switch and turned the lights up a notch, more enough to make a visible difference.

Lightning immediately squinted and blinked a few times, his eyes quickly getting used of the new contrast brightness.

"Is it better..?" Sally asked in a small whisper to him.

"Yeah.." He eventually replied with a small smile on his lips.

"Alright-y! If you two need me, just press the button on that remote right by him. Have a good day, you two..!"

"Alright, Thanks..." Lightning generously said to the nurse before she made her leave.

He glanced over at the window, the sun just beginning to come up.

They both sat there in peaceful silence for quite a while, until Lightning finally spoke up, but with a sudden question.

"When do you think I'll be able to race again..?"

She slightly glanced over at him, giving him a look that showed a bit of confusion.

"What..?" She responded, although she understood clearly what he just said.

"I'm not ready to give up... Even after everything that's happened, I just wanna be out on the track again, racing. Just like I should be..." A bit disappointingly, he averted his gaze towards the ground.

"Don't even think about it, Stickers... You "will" be able to race again, don't worry.. You're just beginning to recover, don't push yourself so hard. But remember, that doesn't mean you can't try moving once in a while to get used of it again. Although, you will need a lot more practice again... you'll still be able to go back out on that track and have a good time, like you always do.." She reassuringly kissed his cheek, seeing a faint smile from him as he exhaled.

"Thanks, Sal... You and I both know that I want to hurry up and get out of here." He stated, glancing towards the window.

"I know, Stickers. We'll be out of here soon, just be patient.." She said, sighing softly to herself.

"I know.." He half-heartedly muttered. But right at this moment, a sudden thought came to his mind, and he glanced over at Sally who was completely oblivious.

"Sal, can you do something for me?" Lightning asked her almost sweetly, she couldn't say no.

"Yes..?" She glanced at him in curiosity, giving him her full attention.

"Unplug the IV from the wall and wrap it around the stand to my left.."

She gave him a sudden strange look, but still did it anyway.

"What exactly are you planning to do?" She uneasily asked as she obeyed everything he told her to do.

"Just open the door and promise me you'll be calm about this.." He said while stretching out his tires a little bit.

She suddenly knew exactly what he was going to do and she immediately dropped what she was doing.

"Stickers, you're not ready yet! You-"

"Just let me do it! It's worth a try, isn't it..? You even said so yourself." He retorted, exchanging a somewhat determined look to her.

She sighed in defeat and hesitantly opened the door and stood outside, watching him carefully.

He very slowly drove towards the door a little at a time, making a little progress while moving the IV along with him using his tire. He successfully made it out into the hall and side glanced at Sally a bit.

"Be careful, please.." She warned, driving right beside him a bit anxiously.

"I know, I know...-" He suddenly winced a bit, but tried not to think about the pain and just focus on driving.

Until they made it all the way down the corridor to the elevator, Sally brightly smiled to Lightning and gave him a small victory kiss.

"You did It!" She happily exclaimed, lightly laughing.

"I did..! I actually didn't think I'd make it this far." He chuckled a little, glancing back down the hall he'd just drove down for the first time in days.

Sally just laughed softly and snuggled against his side.

"McQueen! Look's like you're recovering quickly!" Lightning's nurse came driving up to him with a cheerful smile.

"Yeah, I just really wanted to go for a little drive to kinda start getting used of this again." He kindly responded, starting to drive slowly back to the room with Sally and the nurse following closely behind.

"I'm just so glad to see you're feeling better... Keep up the good work and you just might be able to leave sooner!" The nurse said, giggling a little before driving off to tend to her other patients.

"Oh, I can't wait.." Lightning muttered to himself as he intently concentrated on driving back to the room.

As soon as they returned, Sally assisted Lightning on getting back to where he was and plugged his IV back in to the wall. She smiled at him and admired his determination to start driving again.

"You did amazing, Stickers..." She encouragingly said to him, her lips curved in a gentle smile.

"Thanks, Sal.." He exhaled a little, slowly closing his eyes.

"Someone looks tired already." Sally chuckled to herself.

Lightning just faintly grunted in response, not really saying anything else to her.

"Okay, okay, I'll let you sleep.. I'm going down to the cafeteria really quick, Alright? I'll be right back." She whispered as she purposely drove slowly to the door and waited for a response from him but never got one. Right before she left the room, she finally heard him say something.

"...You better be careful this time..." He mumbled to her, clearly serious about it.

Sally agreed and slightly nodded her head, chuckling to herself.

"I will, Stickers." She said in her reassuring tone of voice before she left his room.

While she was on her way down to the cafeteria, She spotted an awfully familiar blue car behind the main desk and stopped in her tracks to see who it was. She decided to drive a little closer, and then, she finally recognized who it was and drove up to him with a surprised smile.

"The king, It's you!"

"Oh, Hello there!" He turned from the front desk to kindly greet Sally.

"You're Lightning's Girlfriend, Sally Carerra, Right?" He politely asked her to make sure he was correct.

"Yeah, that's me..!" Sally laughed a little and finally asked him the question that was on her mind since she first spotted him.

"Not to be rude or anything, but what are you doin' here?" She asked politely, waiting patiently for his reply.

"Ah well, I just wanted to see how Lightnin' was doin, Is all.. Is it maybe alright if I give him a little visit?"

"Oh, sure thing!" She nodded as they both started driving back to the elevator.

"So, how's everything been going with you?" Sally asked The king as they waited patiently in the elevator.

"Ah, everything has been going smoothly for me. No drama or anythin' like that that lately.." He faintly chuckled, almost relieved that there actually was no new drama happening lately.

"That's good to hear."

The elevator doors finally opened and they drove down the hallway to the room.

Sally opened the door as quietly as she could and she saw Lightning open his eyes slowly and glance towards them.

"Hey, Stickers, Look who's here to see you..!" Sally let The King in first and came in after him, shutting the door silently behind her.

"Hey there, McQueen..!"

"The King... Is that you?" Lightning blinked a few times, making sure he was seeing correctly.

"Sure is, I've just stopped by to see how you were hangin' in there. You took a pretty hard hit out there, I'm just glad you're still alive. You're looking great, too! Much better!.." The King said relieved with a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'm actually feeling a lot better now. Sally's been here with me this entire time and she's been goin' through quite a lot herself, too..." Lightning calmly replied.

"Ah, I see.. Well, At least ya two have a pretty nice room here..!" The King slightly chuckled as he peered around the room to emphasize his point.

"Yeah, you're right actually; It is pretty nice for being in a hospital.." Lightning admitted, chuckling to himself as well.

"Ah, you're quite lucky that you-..." The king suddenly paused mid-sentence when he spotted something that caught his eye.

"Is... Is that the piston cup?" He asked in shock, observing it from afar.

"Yeah, sure is." Lightning responded, watching The Kings expression with a faint smirk on his face.

"And you'll never guess who brought that to me." Lightning added, intently watching The Kings expression turn puzzled.

"Who was that?" The King asked, slowly tearing his eyes from the golden trophy to glance at Lightning.

"It was Chick."

If being in any more shock than you already were, would be quite amusing to see, especially since the car struck in the most shock, was The King after hearing that name escape past Lightning's lips.

"Chick? You're kiddin' me!" The King could only exclaim in awe as Lightning on the other hand, just laughed it off.

"That's how amazed I was when I found out, too." Lightning truthfully admitted, turning his attention towards the trophy as well.

"Why would he give you the...- How did he...- Why?" The King slowly shook his head, still astounded.

"I know, I couldn't believe he did that for me either. I think he's finally realized how much of a jerk he's been, to not just me, but to all of us... Huh.." Lightning slightly rolled his eyes.

"That's some crazy stuff right there.." The King spoke in a small exhale as he turned his attention back to Lightning.

"Well, I'm just glad you're feeling a lot better and I hope for a full and speedy recovery! I've actually gotta get goin' now; I'll see you soon, Alright?" The King said just as he was about to take his leave, as Lightning warmly smiled and waved his tire a little bit.

"Thanks a lot for stopping by...!" Lightning added as he slowly relaxed himself stress-free against Sally, who was decently snuggled up at his side as well.

"No Problem; Goodbye you two! See you soon." The King waved as he drove back out into the hall.

"Goodbye.." Sally kindly gave her goodbye, smiling softly to herself.

"He's a really nice guy..." Sally mumbled, glancing aside at Lightning a bit.

Lightning slightly laughed to himself a little and nodded, "Yeah, He is.."

"Hmm..." Sally hummed quietly to herself, raising her attention towards the TV that she realized they haven't watched yet.

"Wanna watch TV for a little while, Stickers?" Sally thoughtfully asked, watching him tilt his head in thought for a minute before finally nodding his head yes.

Sally easily clicked the "ON" button on the remote with her tire and as the tv came to life, the news forecast was ironically airing live.

"...- and tonight, we are expecting some very heavy thunderstorms coming this way and some harsh winds coming in at 50 mph. It is highly recommended that you stay inside for the rest of the night to avoid-"

Lightning suddenly shifted uncomfortably and Sally seemed to immediately notice, so she glanced over at him in concern.

"Is everything alright..?" She asked him in her soft, gentle voice.

"I.. I just hate storms... They freak me out, sometimes..." He muttered quietly to Sally, not really looking at her, nor the TV.

"Oh Stickers, it's nothing to be afraid about, everybody hates storms... You'll be alright, I promise." She gently held his tire in reassurance, giving Lightning her true, warm smile.

With her other free tire, she repeatedly pressed a button on the remote a few times to lower the volume a bit and more comfortably relaxed herself against Lightning, who loved it when she would huddle herself beside him.

"...It's starting to get dark outside, already..." Sally unknowingly muttered to herself as she noticed the weather shifting. Eventually, the both of them began hearing light raindrops pelting the window pane.

"Here comes the rain..." Sally said surprisingly calmingly to an irritated Lightning.

"Don't remind me..." He mumbled, avoiding at all costs to not look towards the window.

"Well, let's just try to get some sleep so the storm won't keep us awake all night.." She finally said as she slowly closed her eyes, resting comfortably against Lightning, who eventually agreed and closed his eyes as well. They both fell asleep to the muffled sounds of the quieted TV, but the news had still been on, and at the wrong time, had they decided to explain a news segment...

"...-by the names of Tow Mater and Doc Hudson, have gone missing since yesterday evening. It has been reported that a small group of unidentified cars had snuck into a little town called Radiator Springs, and left the town a complete wreck. No other clues have been found yet as to who those cars were, and what they were planning, but we are still on the case. Police have found a small hide out area in a forest almost in the middle of nowhere! Nearby, Detectives have also found three unidentified cars that were forcibly drowned alive in a nearby river. The area has been closed off for further inspection, but for now, be careful, and be safe...-"

Were the reporter's last words before commercials played on the screen.


	10. Chapter 10: Tragedy

A/N: If you haven't already noticed, I've revised all chapters before this one and will be continuing to do so. So, if a portion of this story had confused you somehow, because I know it terribly confused me after I read it over, go back and re read if you'd like, because I made it completely more understandable. Sorry for the trouble/inconvenience. Enjoy the rest of the story! :)

* * *

><p>Morning had slowly but finally sneaked up from around the corner, but it was one if those dreary, seemingly depressing mornings. The rain dripped down the sides of the windows, thunder still lowly crackling in the dark sky.<p>

Lightning soon woke up and yawned tiredly, blinking a few times as he focused his vision by glancing around with tired eyes. He realized that the TV was still on and decided to keep it on, just incase anything of interest came on since, after all, it was a dreary morning.

He remained silent as possible, glancing over at Sally who was still fast asleep. He smiled a little, feeling her small figure against his own. He always found Sally irresistibly adorable when she was asleep...

Lightning suddenly jolted in fright as a very loud cracking of thunder shot through the sky, making Sally groan a bit in her sleep. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to block out the storm but found that he just couldn't. He anxiously peered around the room, trying to find something to occupy himself with, but found absolutely nothing. He uneasily exhaled and decided to just watch the TV.

Almost a half an hour passed rather quickly, and Sally had finally woke up. She stretched her tires out a bit and yawned, glancing over towards Lightning with a small smile.

"Good morning, Stickers." She said tiredly, but still contently.

"Oh hey, Good mornin' Sal. Did'cha sleep well?" Lightning asked while his eyes were still on the TV.

"Yeah, I did...- What're you watchin'?" She innocently asked, looking over towards the TV.

"Oh, just the news. There's nothing really good playing this early, so I really had no choice..." He slightly sighed, realizing that he was bored after all this time.

"Well, If you want, we can go and drive around the hospital for a while... I think you should start moving around a little more, so you won't be as sore so often." She said, gesturing her tire towards the door to state her point.

"Sure, that sounds like a good Idea.." Lightning gave in, as he patiently waited for her to unplug his not-really-needed IV.

She swiftly unplugged the electric IV from the wall, wrapping it around the IV stand, and slowly drove to the door to only open it and wait patiently outside for him. Though, she was still ready to quickly get to his side if something went wrong.

Lightning cautiously stretched his front tires a little and very slowly, started driving to the door, but suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, accidentally putting too much pressure on his back left tire, causing a sharp pain to shoot up the left side of his back.

"It's okay, take your time. You can do it, Stickers." Sally calmly said in encouragement, moving a bit closer towards him just in case.

He more carefully started driving again, until he was successfully out in the hallway and he quietly sighed in relief, closing his eyes for a brief second.

"Ready?" She asked, staying close to his left side to support him up so he could move around more easier.

"Yeah.." He exhaled, starting to slowly drive with Sally by his side.

"Do you think we'll get to go back home soon...?" Lightning suddenly asked in his slightly discouraged tone of voice, trying to make himself drive a little faster, but stopped immediately at the pain shooting at the same left side spot from earlier.

"Well, I think so. You look good enough to go, maybe they'll even let you go back home today...!" Sally said in an attempt to cheer him up.

Lightning faintly smiled and stood driving close to her, almost reaching the elevator door when Sally spoke up.

"We can go down a floor, if you'd like. But, only if you think you can handle it.." Sally smiled a little as they slowly approached the silver elevator doors.

"Eh... Alright, let's do it..." Lightning said only a tad bit uneasily.

She pressed the button on on the wall with her tire and waited until the elevator doors opened. She assisted Lightning inside first before pressing a glowing white button that read: 'MAIN'.

As soon as they arrived to the main floor, they carefully drove out of the elevator and Sally secretly lead Lightning to a nice, secret little waiting lounge she spotted when she was once driving around.

When Lightning was unknowingly driving to that 'secret room', his eyes widened in fascination when he was finally taken inside by Sally.

"Woah, look at that...!" He whispered in awe, venturing further in with Sally at his side.

"It's nice, Isn't it?" Sally asked with a bright smile on her face, turning to look at him.

"Sheesh, a little too nice, don't you think..? I mean, this room looks like it belongs in a fancy five-star hotel, not a hospital..." He laughed a little, admiring the beauty anyway.

The room had very soft white carpet, dark burgundy walls, a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling that was rather dimly lit, a fancy gold vase with beautiful red roses on a small glass table were in the middle of the room, and a very very large window that took place of the entire wall that should have been there instead. There were also wine red curtains that flowed down the sides of the large window, giving it a final touch, if you'd say.

Lightning slowly drove towards the window, and was absolutely amazed by the view. The entire town could be seen from afar and the lights from all of the stores glowed down below. Then, there was the scattering of trees around the town. With the weather being the way it was this morning, the view still looked beautiful.

Sally slowly approached Lightning and gave him a small kiss on the cheek, quietly admiring the scene with him.

They stood there for quite a while, staring out at the window together, until dark rain clouds started hovering over the town.

"...D-Do you see that...?" Sally suddenly pointed out to lightning, causing him to perk up in full attention and go slightly wide-eyed.

"I do... Those clouds are really dark, I think we-"

A loud siren suddenly went off outside, warning the town of something dangerous that was to come.

"We should really go back to the room and watch the weather to see what's going on..." Lightning actually finished his sentence this time, but spoke with a strain of nervousness in his voice.

"Right, let's go..." Sally agreed and headed back as she helped him all the way back up to the room.

The moment they returned, She immediately turned the TV up and listened carefully to what the meteorologist was saying.

"...- storm that is active until further notice. Stay inside and whatever you do, do not go outside. If severe, go to the lower level of your house or facility. Warning. There is a heavy and dangerous storm that is active until further notice. Stay inside and do not go outside. If severe, go to the lower level of your house or facility...-" The reporter repeated a couple times for the people who didn't hear it the first time.

"Oh no..." Lightning muttered under his breath, growing more frightened.

"I hope the town will be alright... If that storm hits really hard, it's sure to reach Radiator Springs from here..." Sally nervously said, lowering the TV a little and turned her attention towards a currently frightened Lightning.

"Well, m-maybe it won't be that bad..." Lightning said, but seemed to have spoken too soon as a nurse came in the room to warn them.

"There is currently a code Black in the hospital and we're ordered to close all of the shades on the windows, but no need to worry." The nurse said as calm as possible, making her way over to the window and closing the shades.

Sally only nodded and patiently waited until she left. Lightning shivered in complete fright. This is why he hated storms so much; they were so terrifying.

Sally shakily exhaled and lightly leaned against a nervous Lightning.

Close to two minutes later, the rain started pouring down hard. Then following after, the hail came along, banging loudly against the window pane.

"Attention all patients. We have a Code White. Repeating, We have a Code White..-!" A female voice through the intercom said quickly.

Thunder crackled deafeningly into the air just before all the lights suddenly went out.

"What the...-?" Sally froze, not able to see anything anymore.

"This is getting ridiculooouus..." Lightning nervously said in an almost whisper.

Just then, the emergency lights flickered on, only providing very dim lighting, but just enough for them to see. They suddenly heard loud voices in the hallway and their door hastily opened, two nurses at their room.

"We're moving everybody to the lowest level due to the tornado sirens going off! This is a code White!" The nurses literally had to yell because the pounding of the hail on the window was so loud, it overpowered her own voice. One of them had a flashlight on her and she quickly drove over to Lightning and completely unplugged the wires and IV from him, then placed him on a wheeled platform and wheeled him off, Sally following close behind, The other nurse gathered their belongings into a white bag with their room numbers and last names on a tag and put it in a large brown box with the others.

The hallways were very dim, almost like trying to see in an unbelievably dark movie theatre. Everybody had to take the long ramp down all the way to the basement since elevators were clearly out of order. Sally remained very close to Lightning the entire time while the nurse also nearby wheeled him along.

Screaming, shouting, piercing sirens and the pounding rain and thunder were the only things that could be heard through out the entire hospital. It was very frightening, even for Sally.

Huddled up together, surrounded by other patients and nurses, it suddenly went dead quiet, not a sound could be heard. But when they thought it was all okay, the slowly forming tornado finally struck; right down on the hospital and across the land.

Lightning and Sally held each other's tire tightly as they heard the sounds of shattering glass and almost felt the roaring angry wind. Papers, debris, wires and dry wall were spinning into the vortex, causing mass destruction. Lightning and Sally had their eyes closed shut the entire time, as they could feel the wind roughly coming through the doors. The basement was quite deep under ground, so they knew they were all safe.

As soon as the tornado passed, everybody slowly glanced up and saw the sky. The sky? Half of the building was torn apart, the side everybody wasn't beneath.

Lightning and Sally peered around in horror. What could have started as a good day, ended as the worst day of their life.

Nurses and Doctors rushed to patients sides and made sure nobody moved a tire. Some staff went up to see the destruction and nothing but debris and half torn down buildings.

"S-Sal..?" Lightning stuttered to her, holding her tire tightly.

"Oh... My god..." She muttered, burying herself into Lightning's side, trying to pull herself together as well.

"I-It's all fine now, Sally... We're okay..." He spoke a bit more clearly, but still in a nervous voice. A little girl next to Lightning was huddled in the corner by herself, shaking in terror. Lightning couldn't stand to see her like that and slightly leaned over to her, making Sally look up, too.

"Are... you alright..?" Lightning said in a more pulled-together and calming tone of voice to her, and her deep green eyes looked up at his.

"A-A-Are y-you... L-Lightning M..McQueen...?...!" The little girl said in a slight shaky voice, her fear starting to disappear little by little by distraction.

"That's me." Lightning said, faintly chuckling a little at her change of expression so quickly.

"Y-You're... Lightning! L-Lightning McQueen...! I'm.. I'm a big fan of yours..!" She exclaimed, a sudden smile on her face,

'Well, at least I got her distracted from what just happened.' Lightning thought to himself.

"That's awesome..! What's your name, little girl?" He kindly asked her, Sally just smiling at how kind Lightning was being to the child.

"I'm Lena... Lena Marie." She told him, smiling a bit sweetly afterwards.

"Lena, that's a beautiful name.. Of course, you know my name and this is my girlfriend, Sally." Lightning slightly moved back a little to let Sally see her more better and she waved a kind little hello to Lena.

"Hi, Lena..!" Sally gently smiled.

"Hi Sally.." Lena said, waving Hi to Sally with a tiny smile of her own.

"Oh, where are your parents, Lena?" Lightning suddenly asked her; not knowing that the question he'd just asked was probably a big mistake.

Lena's expression seemed to go from neutral, to sad, in only a matter of seconds.

"I actually.. don't have any... I stayed here in the hospital with Victoria. She's a nurse here and she treats me like I'm her own child. I was adopted, but my adoptive parents were abusive, so I ran away and Victoria found me here and took me in until I recovered..." She explained to Lightning, while nearly ending up in tears near the end.

"Sweetie, don't cry... We've all been through some pretty rough times in the beginning, but good things will always happen in the end, just remember that.." Lightning encouraged her and lightly nudged her tire a bit, giving her a small, reassured smile.

She blinked her forming tears away and slightly smiled again.

"Y-You're nicer than I thought you would be..!" Lena said to Lightning in a small laugh to herself.

Sally softly chuckled behind Lightning as he only laughed it off.

Lightning eventually saw Lena glancing back towards the destruction, looking suddenly distraught and hurt. The only place where everybody knew and loved her, was destroyed.

"Do... you have anywhere to go...?" Lightning kindly inquired her, a look of possible concern on his face.

She denied and slowly shook her head and shakily whispered back to him. "No.."

Lightning swore that he honestly felt really sorry for her. Almost the same thing happened to him when he was just a child, and he had nowhere to go. It was like she was a vision of him, but a girl.

"Hey, listen... How would you like to come live with us, then?" He eventually asked her in all politeness and faintly smiled, as she looked back at him in complete shock.

"Y-You mean it...?" She couldn't believe what she had just heard! The worlds most famous racecar, asking _her_, if she wanted to go live with _them_? She thought she was dreaming at this point.

"Yeah, I mean it!" Lightning lightly chuckled at her reaction. "So, what do 'ya say?" He asked her again, an amused smile on his face.

Sally stared at Lightning with a loving look in her eyes, so happy that he was being so nice to such a little girl in great need of a home and friends to be there for her. This heart-felt moment nearly melted Sally.

"O-Of course, I'd love to!" She exclaimed happily, giving Lightning the biggest hug without thinking before hand. He winced slightly, forgetting that he was still a little injured.

"Oh gosh, I'm sorry...! I didn't mean to hurt you-!" Lena desperately apologized to Lightning, a clear apologetic look written on her face.

"It's alright, you didn't mean to.." Lightning forgave Lena, who slightly smiled in relief at him.

Sally eventually heard a few nurses politely ordering the patients and visitors to go to a certain section of the street and she nudged Lightning gently, grabbing his attention.

"Stickers, I think we need to go to the street.. I just heard the nurse order everyone." Sally informed him, getting behind Lightning and starting to nudge him forward. Lena followed behind Sally, staying quiet to herself, until they reached the safe part of the street with everybody else.

"Jeez, I really can't believe this happened... It seemed like just a minute ago, we were in that lounge, enjoying the peace and quiet, then a second later a tornado hits..." Lightning reminded in thought, glancing at Sally who nodded in agreement and slightly sighed.

"I know, this is just absolutely terrible... I hope everybody got out safely." She said, peering around at the destruction right in front of them.

Sally slowly turned left to glance over at a certain area, and saw a nurse point over towards them and an assistant nurse casually drove over to them with a brown packaged box.

"Here are your belongings, Miss. Don't worry, everything inside is in good condition. We are terribly sorry for all of this happening.." The nurse apologetically spoke to her as Sally said a small "Thank you.".

Lightning faintly exhaled as he thoughtfully stared down the long road, wondering if they should leave.

"Sal...?" Lightning started with his eyes still glued to the road, waiting until she looked over at him.

"Yeah?" She turned her attention towards him, asking in question.

"Do you think we should go back home now...?" He finally asked, still glancing down the seemingly endless road.

"We might as well... Let me go see if they have a map we could use." She soon replied as she went off and asked several nurses for any sort of map, all of them not having not one in reach.

Lena slowly drove up besides Lightning in curiosity and quietly stared down the road with him, just before glancing up at him.

"...How did you get hurt?" Innocently, she asked him in a curious voice.

"...Eh, I got into a big wreck during Friday's race.." Lightning mumbled, wanting not to think about it.

"Oh..." She quietly whispered and stood quiet a few more seconds before finally speaking up again. "I hope you're feeling better..." Lena said, staring back down the empty road with him.

"Yeah, I am... Thanks.." He half-heartedly thanked her before Sally finally came back with a small but doable map.

"Alright, They found a map that wasn't all torn up.. This may be a long drive, but at last, let's go home..." Sally gave a relieved smiled, propping the box of belongings just on the side of Lightning's wheeling platform.

Sally slowly started pushing Lightning the way back home and a bit later, Lena gladly assisted Sally with pushing Lightning, so they went a little quicker.

They were all excited to know that they would finally be back to a place that was their home. But little did they know, this was just the beginning of their long adventure.

A/N: *Code Black = severe weather

*Code White = Evacuation


	11. Chapter 11: Home sweet Home?

Nighttime came quite quickly, and it made it a little harder to see any signs. Lightning had eventually nodded off somewhere along the way, Lena was slowly becoming exhausted while Sally was on the verge of falling asleep on the side of the road while her and Lena were still slowly pushing the wheeling platform Lightning was propped up on top of.

To the best of her luck, the sign she had been waiting to see for the longest time, had finally came in view and Sally was full of excitement.

"Yes, finally...! We're so close..!" Sally whispered excitedly, trying to motivate herself. She lightly nudged Lena with her tide and told her they were very close, and that made Lena perk up with energy as well. They carefully drove faster while still pushing Lightning, and their eyes widened in bliss once they saw lights over the small hill they had drove over.

"There it is..!" Sally exclaimed happily. She gently nudged Lightning awake and when he woke up and saw the town ahead of him, he felt completely relieved to know he was back. The town had all of their lights and neon on, glowing in all of its beauty, at least, that's what they saw from a far.

Lena carefully pushed Lightning over beside Sally in the middle of the road he had paved in the past. They were finally back, and Lena stared at the town in fascination.

"It's... really pretty..." Lena said in awe.

"It sure is, isn't it..?" Sally replied, soundlessly peering around.

"But, wait... Where is everyone..?" Lightning realized and Sally made a strange face before shouting out loud.

"HELLO! IS ANYBODY HERE?" They all drove a little more further into town.

Silence.

But suddenly to their relief, they saw Sheriff, Luigi, Guido, Red, Lizzy, Flo and Ramone quickly drive into the middle of the road and stare wide-eyed at Sally and Lightning, but not spotting Lena because she was hiding behind Lightning.

The town quickly drove over to them and gave them big hugs, Luigi and Guido crying tears of joy in the back.

"Oh, Thank'a Goodness, you are'a alright!" Luigi hollered in joy.

Sally and Lightning cheerfully smiled at first, but Lightning slowly realized that something just wasn't right...

"You guys, where's Doc and Mater...?" Lightning worriedly asked, everybody suddenly going dead silent.

"Well... They were, Uh... Carnapped." Sheriff broke the news, Sally and Lightning both yelling at the same time,

"WHAT?"

"When?...!" Lightning dreadfully shouted, feeling as if he were about to loose his mind.

"Just a few days ago... When you two were at the hospital, some strange cars came into town and left the place a wreck, then, they took Doc and Mater away... We don't know why, but they left this paper in the middle of the road before they left..." Sheriff attentively explained, showing the both of them the outlandish note he was just talking about.

Sally gave it an unsure stare and eventually read it aloud.

"Did you think we didn't know where you lived? You better watch it, we're watching your every move."

Sally suddenly stood quiet, staring in fright at the note, but glanced up when she suddenly heard Flo's voice.

"Who is this cute little girl?" Flo gently cooed, trying to get Lena out from her hiding stop behind Lightning.

"Oh, you guys, that's Lena Marie.."

The town all "Aw'd" In unison. Lena slowly drove out from behind Lightning and shyly waved 'Hi' to everyone in town.

"Looks like we have a new car in town! Welcome to Radiator Springs, Lena!" Flo happily exclaimed, smiling kindly to her.

Lightning gladly smiled and everybody was stood silent for a few seconds until Sheriff spoke up.

"So, how come she came back with you guys?" Sheriff questioned, glancing at Sally for an answer.

"It's a long story... How about we go to Flo's and talk about it?" Sally suggested.

"Alright, let's go then!" Flo said afterwards, driving back towards the café.

Sheriff helped Sally push Lightning to Flo's and they all came together in a circle, almost in a meeting-like group.

"Well, this is what happened..." Sally began, as she thoroughly explained the entire story to everyone, which took

almost a good half hour.

* * *

><p><strong>Later that night...<strong>

It was almost 3 am in the morning, and the whole town was still at Flo's, talking about everything strange that's been happening lately and trying to put clues together of where Doc and Mater could possibly be. They had not one idea where they could be right now, and It deeply disappointed them all. Lightning seemed to be the most upset, though. The two of his best friends, had just suddenly disappeared out of nowhere. He wondered why those strange cars just took them and nobody else, the closest friends he had... He was remaining quiet, thinking hard over the problem. He already knew that Sally was carnapped by some strange cars that one night as well, and she did said that they asked her about Lightning. Why would they even ask for him, and how did they know Sally even knew him? Then, that nightmare he had that one night, then the note the town found on the road.. The hide out that was closed off...! Lightning had suddenly shot up in realization, yelling.

"WAIT! Sally, you know when those strange guys asked you about _me_? How did they even know that 'you' knew me? That means those guys had to have been spying on us all somehow. Then, their same hide out area that was closed off near that river, and the note the town found, puzzling this all together, this has to mean something...! Those guys are targeting at me for some reason unknown and since they couldn't get to you, Sal, they found out that the other two cars that knew a lot about me were Doc and Mater so they must have carnapped them so we can be lured into their devious trap!" Lightning exclaimed hastily in one breath, everyone staring with surprised expressions plastered on their faces.

"You know, I think you may be comin' up with somethin' there..." Sheriff muttered, thinking over everything Lightning just explained,

"But then, if they took Doc and Mater, how are we suppose to get lured into their trap if 'we' don't even know where they are?" Sally added.

"Hm, you have a point... But there could still be some unfound clues out there that might eventually lead us closer and closer to them." Lightning responded, finally feeling confident that they would be found.

"That is true, Sally... But for now, how about we get some rest and then first thing in the morning, at around 8:00am, we can start the search?" Sheriff spoke up, feeling not too extremely tired, but enough to where he wasn't able to think straight anymore.

"yeah, that sounds good to me." "Ok!" "Sure thing, Sheriff." "See ya later!" Everyone in town slowly dispersed to their sleeping areas, all besides Sally, Lightning and Lena.

"Well, let's head back to the cozy cone." Sally kind of said to herself as she pushed Lightning along to the cozy cone, Lena following closely behind Sally.

Lightning felt sleep trying to completely overcome him, but he was persistent on trying to stay awake.

Sally led him straight to his usual cone and maneuvered him carefully into his room, exhaling in a bit of relief.

"Here you go, Stickers... I'm gonna stay here with you tonight, but first, I'll be right back..." Sally softly whispered to her sleepy boyfriend.

She slowly backed up and gestured Lena to follow her, and Sally brought her to a nicely done room a few cones down.

"This'll be your room for the time you'll be here with us. Do you... Like it?" Sally kindly asked while watching Lena drive into the room, looking around with a rather cheerful smile on her face.

"I do like it..!" Lena happily replied, going over to Sally and giving her a small hug in appreciation.

"Thank you for letting me stay here.." Lena said, letting go of Sally and driving back into her room with the same happy smile on her face.

"You're welcome... Sleep well tonight and I'll see you in the morning!" Sally said, smiling sweetly to her.

"Ok! Goodnight Sally!" She waved goodnight, smiling.

"Goodnight Lena.."

Sally remained outside in front of her now closed door, faintly smiling to herself.

Driving back to Lightning, he had already fallen soundly asleep and seemed completely comfortable. She quietly chuckled a bit as she drove in beside him, closing the door and placed a small kiss on his cheek while afterwards, whispering softly to him.

"Sweet dreams..."


	12. Chapter 12: The Search

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Sally's eyes shot open to the sound of someone roughly pounding on the door. She groaned tiredly and opened it to see Sheriff outside with an anxious, excited expression on his face.

"Sheriff...? What's wrong?" Sally tried to sound as wide-awake as possible, but was still trying to wake herself up.

"Sorry for wakin' ya up this early, but I think it's worth it. I just found out where Doc and mater are...!" Sheriff informed her with a hint of relief in his voice.

That definitely woke Sally up. A bit roughly, she nudged lightning awake and he muttered a quiet "No, don't do that..!". Having just waking up from a weird dream and he made a strange expression, glancing half-consciously at Sally.

"Wh..What is it, Sal..?" Lightning slurred, blinking a few times to clear his vision.

"Sheriff's here, he found out where Doc and Mater are!" She loudly exclaimed on purpose, getting lightning to look at her wide-eyed and in shock.

"**What**? Where are they?" He shouted anxiously, staring at the both of them impatiently.

Sheriff drove up to lightning a bit closer and explained to the both of them.

"They're in an abandoned town about 7 hours away from here. Lightning, you've already been through a lot and you're just beginning to recover, so you and Sally are staying here with the others... But, I'm going to have a small slot camera and a microphone attached to me, so you guys will be able to see and hear me while I'm gone. I've already connected the things to the TV we've set up at Flo's, so we'll have a way of communicating to each other. I'm planning to start heading out in an hour so I can get an early start, because like I said, It'll be quite a long drive.." Sheriff backed up a bit, faintly exhaling.

"But, what If something happens to you, Sheriff? Then what will we do...?" Sally said, a little worried at the fact that he's going alone.

"I promise you guys... I'll be careful. Don't worry." Sheriff said promisingly before driving off.

Sally sighed and side glanced at Lightning. He looked absolutely beyond worried. She closed the door to block out the bright sunlight hitting them and she nudged him a bit.

"It'll be alright, Stickers... Sheriff will find Doc and Mater and bring them back safe and sound.." Sally calmly spoke, trying to cheer him up.

"But... Are you sure they're okay..?" Lightning finally questioned her, glancing out the window a little bit.

"I'm positive they're okay.." Sally whispered softly, holding his tire.

He didn't say anything else for quite a while and so Sally opened the door, about to leave him to his own privacy when she heard a voice cut in.

"..Sal..?" Lightning spoke up just before she left.

"Yes, Stickers..?" She turned around, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"..Come help me off of this thing." Lightning referred to the wheeling platform he was on and slightly glanced down at it.

"Are you going to practice your driving today?" She said while pulling him carefully and slowly him out of the room and locked the wheels so the platform wouldn't move.

She stood in front of Lightning and easily helped him get off of it. As soon as Lightning was off of the platform, he exhaled out loud in relief and stretched his front tires as much as he could withstand and his back tires only a little bit since they still hurt a little. He slowly began driving with Sally beside him and they both stopped a few feet ahead, Lightning feeling a little bit of discomfort on his left back tire.

"ouch, ouch..." He groaned in slight pain, making Sally immediately stop.

"What's hurting you..?" She asked calmly, gently touching his side.

"My back left tire.. owww.." Lightning winced, not wanting to move again.

"Just relax, don't strain yourself too much... When you're ready, I'll take us to Flo's to get you some breakfast, alright?" Sally said with a small smile.

Lightning slightly nodded in response, feeling a little less pain now. He took a deep breath and decided to start over again.

Carefully, he began driving slowly, Sally following close behind him just in case.

"There you go, you got it..!" She said encouragingly, gladly smiling at him.

Lightning felt like he wanted to try something new, and so he decided to go a little faster. Strangely feeling no pain anymore, he was feeling a little more proud of himself this morning. When they finally arrived at Flo's, almost everybody in town was there to greet them like usual.

"Hey, look who's up and drivin' today! Looks like your recovering fast, Lightnin'!" Flo cheerfully said, driving up to him and Sally.

"Do ya two want anythin to eat?" Flo asked sweetly. Sally nodded yes and told Flo they'd just have the usual.

Everyone seemed to be having small talks with each other, then that's when Sally noticed the TV that was connected right outside of Flo's café, so everyone could see it.

Flo had come back with breakfast for everyone and gave them their oil, giving Lightning a more lighter can of fuel.

"I decided to give you some lighter fuel just incase the regular would be a bit too heavy for ya.." Flo said, smiling a bit.

"Thanks, Flo." He returned the kind smile and faintly chuckled before enjoying his breakfast.

Sheriff had eventually driven up to everyone, making an announcement.

"Everyone, I'm just about to leave. But first, I wanna review a few things with all of you about this.." Sheriff began, clearing his voice before he spoke again.

"The TV that Flo and I set up here will show you guys everything that I see. Which means, when I get there, the small slot camera that'll be on me will show you everything that I see, live. It also has sound, so you'll hear everything I say as well. Here..." Sheriff drove up to Flo and gave her a walkie-talkie. "You'll be able to communicate with me through this. If you see anything strange that I don't see, any of you tell me immediately. That seems to be about it. When you turn the TV on, it'll ask you to choose from 'front' or 'rear', that means if you want to see what's ahead of me or behind me. Choose what you want and you'll see my surroundings... Now, any more questions before I leave?" Sheriff said, driving up to Lightning and Sally when everyone said nope and to just be careful out there.

"Lightning, I promise you, I'll bring them both back safely. You take care now. Bye Lightnin', Sally.." He gave them his reassuring goodbye before finally driving off.

Sally lightly held Lightning's tire in hers when he sighed, watching Sheriff head off and everybody waving and yelling goodbye's to him.

Flo turned her attention towards the TV and choose the 'front' option, the screen showing a long and empty road. Everybody turned to see the TV in action and heard a static voice suddenly come through.

"Hey there, Flo. Can you guys hear me well?" Sheriff spoke clearly.

"Yep, Crystal clear!" Flo responded to him through the walkie that she held.

"Good. I'll be drivin' for quite a while, so you guys don't have to stay here the entire time if ya don't want to. It'll take hours!" Sheriff said, driving smoothly while other cars were starting to appear on screen as well.

"Alright-y then." Flo said, laughing to herself a bit.

Everybody stood right were they were, but Sally drove back to Lightning and whispered to him, "I'm going back to the cozy cone really quick, I'll be right back.." She said before kissing his cheek gently and driving off.

Sally had remembered about Lena and wondered if she was still there. Right when she almost approached the Cozy Cone, she spotted Lena by herself, driving around the town slowly and seemed to be admiring all of the buildings and shops.

Sally drove up behind her and unintentionally scared her a bit when she spoke.

"It's a nice little town, don't you think?" Sally said in a soft voice, looking ahead at the entire town from where they were.

Lena looked back to see that it was only Sally who was behind her, and she nodded.

"Yeah, It's really nice.." Lena said in a quiet tone, still peering around.

"I remember when this place was very popular back then.. People from all over came to stop by and sightsee. Now, it's just a little, run down town.. But, I don't see it as that... this is our home..." Sally said with a small smile on her face while Lena listened to her.

"Why doesn't anybody come through here anymore?" Lena asked in curiosity, glancing at her a bit.

"Well, they by-passed the town to save ten minutes of driving... And ever since then, nobody came through here anymore..." Sally said in an almost sad tone of voice.

Oh, I see.." Lena said, seeing that Sally started to look a little down.

"Well, at least you still have all of your close friends here.. That's good, right?" Lena attempted to try and make Sally not think about the bad.

"Yes, you're definitely right about that."

"So... Can you tell me a little about everyone in town? I'd like to hear a little about them.." Lena asked Sally kindly.

"Why sure.. Well, Flo is the woman who works at 'Flo's V8 café' and is always in a great mood.. Ramone does the greatest paint jobs in the entire town, or should I say world! Guido and Luigi own a tire shop in town and well, Guido is known to do the fastest tire change or pit stop.. Sheriff is the one who catches thieves or criminals, and basically keeps the town safe and sound. Mater is the tow truck, a little... well, 'slow' sometimes, but always makes everyone laugh. Doc, who's also known as the Hudson Hornet, lives here in this town as the town doctor and court judge. Lizzy here, is very old, but still here. Even though she forgets where she is sometimes, she's the sweetest. Filmore is the only, well... 'Hippie' here.. He makes his own organic fuel, which actually doesn't taste all that bad..! Sarge, is a tough one.. Even though he seems mean and scary from the outside, he's a nice one. Red is a really shy fire truck, He's always outside, watering flowers and watching everyone from afar. If something sad happens, he 'will' get a little emotional and cry. Then there's me, I'm in charge of the Cozy Cone Motel you're staying at right now. Last but not least, Lightning McQueen, as you already know. I call him Stickers for short though...-"

Lena chuckled to herself at that and Sally smiled.

"…he wasn't here since the busy days, but came here unexpectedly one day. He was sentenced with community service to fix the road he destroyed. Later on, we all realized that he wasn't such a bad person after all.. He started becoming friends with all of us until this very day.. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't have the strong relationship we all have today.. He also changed a lot himself, too, not just us.." Sally said, thinking back on the days.

"So _that's_ what happened..." Lena muttered quietly to herself.

"It's been tough these past few days, but I guess things happen for a reason, ya know..? and since Doc and Mater went missing, It's been even harder... I just hope that they come back safely.." Sally slowly closed her eyes and lowly sighed.

"One day, you'll look back at this and think to yourself, 'Even through the hard times, we still managed to fight through it.' Everything 'will' be fine, so don't you to worry... If something bad were ever to happen to someone in town, then that means it was just their time.. But that won't be happening for quite a while, now. It'll all be okay, I know it." Lena gave Sally a small hug, staying quiet for a while.

"Oh, thank you, Lena. You're a great person, always remember that.." Sally said, smiling sweetly.

"I will." Lena warmly returned the smile and turned to look back towards the town.

"Well, It's actually been quite a while, let's go back and see what everyone's up to now." Sally finally told Lena, gesturing towards Flo's.

Lena nodded in agreement and they both drove quietly back to Flo's, and first of all, saw that Ramone, Guido, Luigi and Lizzy had nodded off, falling asleep there.

Sally drove back to Lightning's side and gave him a small nudge on the tire.

"Hey stickers, how's everything been going...?" She said in a low tone, not wanting to wake anyone up.

"Alright, Just waiting... waiting..." Lightning tiredly muttered, and soon enough, fell asleep leaned against Sally.

Lena giggled quietly beside her, and Sally just rolled her eyes, lowly chuckling as well.

Many hours later, the sunset was starting to quickly approach, which means that it was getting pretty late and Sheriff still wasn't there yet. Everyone had taken a nap during the day to stay awake at night along with Sheriff. Flo had given everyone some fuel as well to keep them awake.

Then, A sudden static came through and Sheriff's exhausted voice was heard.

"I've just entered the town and I don't see anything quite yet...-"

Everyone had stopped what they were doing to quickly stare up at the TV. It was a bit dark, but they could still see what the town looked like. Buildings were old and worn down, there was a badly paved road, miscellaneous items scattered everywhere, it basically looked like a ghost town.

Lightning shuttered in dismay at such a bad and seemingly dangerous town Sheriff was in. Everyone else seemed to cringe in distaste and Flo immediately warned him.

"Hey, you better be extra careful out there..! I don't trust that place at all." Flo anxiously exclaimed to Sheriff.

After a few minutes of searching around, Lightning spotted something strange near Sheriff to his left. Lightning took the walkie-talkie and warned Sheriff.

"Sheriff, look to your left... Do you see that door?"

Sheriff slowly turned to his left and saw a dimly lit light flowing out from inside. He quietly entered the room and seen that it was empty.

"Hm..." Sheriff hummed, but then saw another door.

As quiet as a mouse, Sheriff easily slipped into the next room and quickly glanced around, still not seeing anything yet.

"You guys, I don't think there's any-"

Sheriff shut himself up immediately and hid behind a large pile of boxes at hearing faint voices coming close by.

"...le..ere an...n't ..get caught! You best do it **quick**!" The heavy voice became clearer, unlocking a secret door behind a pitch-black curtain. The strange car came back out a moment later and drove off with an ungodly amount of oil dripping from his tires. Sheriff took a quiet, nervous deep breath and once the mysterious car left, he quickly cut off the lock with a tiny but very powerful laser beam to that hidden door and drove inside to see the one thing he was afraid would happen.

Way off in each corner of the blinding, bright white room, were none other than Doc and Mater, tightly chained down to the grey rocky ground, blindingly blindfolded, and deeply sedated. Sheriff's eyed widened in disbelief and he backed up a bit.

Back at Radiator Springs, the entire town was frozen in dreadful horror, especially Lightning.

"Is that..?" Sally muttered, driving closer to Flo near the TV.

"It is!" Flo exclaimed, "But..."

Sheriff's hushed voice came through the walkie, "Mater seems to still be stable, just passed out, but Doc..." Sheriff paused, unable to continue talking.

"_'Doc'_ what? Is he ok?" Sally impatiently asked, intently listening.

"Doc," Sheriff began and suddenly gasped in horror. "He's-...!"

An unexpected, very loud screech came out from the TV, making everyone wince and shout at someone to shut it off.

"W-What?..! Sheriff! What's going on?" Sally hastily shouted over the horrid noise and everyone's pleads to make it stop.

The TV screen started to slowly fade out until...

Static.


	13. Chapter 13:Is This How It Ends?

"What happened?..!" Lightning shouted over the static.

Flo had immediately managed to turn down the volume on the TV. The town still remained in fear, wondering what had just happened.

"...Oh no, it seems we've lost connection somehow..!" Flo said, desperately trying to get the signals to work again.

"No, that can't be possible! Does the walkie talkie still work?" Lightning told Flo.

Flo had tried speaking through the walkie talkie, but no response.

"No... No response at all.." She said in dreadful disappointment.

Lightning stared down at the ground in nothing but pure sadness.

"This is unbelievable.." He whispered his muttering, Sally going up to him and gently leaning against him in comfort.

"I'm sorry, Stickers... It was worth a try, and at least we all know where they are now-"

"Yes! but even if we do know where they are, by the time _anyone_ gets there to rescue them, they'll already be dead." Lightning said, starting to bring out his angry side.

"Don't you say that! You don't know for _sure_ that could even happen!" Sally scolded Lightning, the town even agreeing with her.

"Look at how they were. If they stay there any longer, who knows what those guys could do with them. Even you know that, Sal.. You and everyone else.. It's too late to save them..." Lightning's voice slowly went quiet. He backed up from the café and left, not even caring if he was in agonizing pain while he drove at full speed away from everyone.

Sally sighed and turned to the others.

"Maybe Lightning is'a right.. What if'a it really is'a too late...?" Luigi disappointingly spoke up, everyone glancing over at him.

"...So, this is how it ends..." Flo whispered before everybody left, leaving only Sally and Lena there alone at the café.

Sally looked over to Lena and suddenly, was full of determination.

"This isn't how it ends... Just. wait. and. _see_..." Sally said before storming off back to her office at the Cozy Cone.

Lena remained right where she was and turned around to look at the static tv screen. She worried deeply for the town. She hated to see friends and family torn apart in such a manner. It made her furious... Lena quickly drove back to the cozy cone and seen Sally rushing around inside of her office.

Being the curious girl she was, Lena went over to Sally's office and spoke up.

"You're planning something, I know it.."

Sally stopped what she was doing and glanced to the door to see Lena there.

"You're darn right I am. If everyone is going to be so negative about this, I'm going to prove to them that good things can happen if they'd just try harder and not give up so easily!"

"and how exactly _are_ you going to prove that?" Asked Lena.

Sally attached a few things to herself that she would need for her adventure tonight, and faced Lena.

"I'm going there."


	14. Chapter 14: The Final Rescue Mission

Five O'Clock... How could anyone drive nonstop through out the night with no sleep?

Sally had immediately began her long journey along the road at around 12 in the morning, and it was right about 4:02 am right now; And not only did she go by herself, but someone had also tagged along with her. Lena.

With only two more hours remaining of her desperate drive to the town, Sally and her generous helper, Lena, were perspicaciously keeping their eyes locked on the dusty road ahead of them.

The only true reason Lena tagged along, was because she was honestly worried over Sally not having anyone to protect her if she was targeted, and Lena just so happened to know karate/Self-Defense incredibly from her recent caretaker. In this case, Lena was prepared for the fight that she would need to withstand, in order to proudly protect the ones who deserve to be protected.

"A-Aouch... oww.." Lightning weakly groaned in discomfort as he slowly woke up, extremely sore. He was in his usual cone, pondering about on why something felt a little... strange, this morning.

Opening the door to his cone, he peered around with a blank expression written on his face. Silent.

His first instinct was to bring his full attention to Sally's office, but he suddenly stared in confusion. Slowly driving out of his room, he approached her office where she usually resided in the early mornings, only to see that she wasn't there. Immediately, he felt that heavy pressure of uneasiness and anxiousness in the pit of his tank.

Quickly accelerating the opposite direction and speeding off into town, his eyes first spotted Flo, and so he rushed over to her, speaking in a frightened tone of voice.

"Flo! Please, Please, pleaaassseee, tell ne the truth; Have you seen Sally this morning?" Lightning held a ridiculously worried expression, waiting for her response.

"I'm sorry, hun. I haven't seen her since yesterday, Why? Don't tell me she's missing too...!" Her uniquely inherited turquoise eyes widened, deep worry bringing a heavy weight to her entire self.

"I have no idea, that's what I'm trying to figure out..." He muttered, shaking his head in disbelief before driving off back into town.

"Great, now there's three missing..? Sal, you better not be in any trouble..." Lightning absent-mindedly muttered to himself, driving back to the Cozy Cone to think all of this over.

"Look, there it is!" Lena alerted Sally of the place they've finally reached.

They quite successfully drove into the run-down ghost town, but eventually paused for a quick, ten-second breather before venturing off further into the abandoned place.

"Sheesh, This place is so... Old." Sally scrunched her face in disgust, kicking a piece of rotting wood out of her way with her tire.

"Tell me 'bout it..." Lena mumbled to herself, but then abruptly stopped in her tracks, when she caught sight of a completely open wooden door, only a matter of a few feet away from them.

"Look, Sally, there's a door right there..- Wait a second, Isn't that the door Sheriff came in...?" Lena carefully inched closer to the rotting piece of wood called a door, and cautiously glanced around at what was beyond it.

"You're right, that is it...! Good catch, Lena; Come on.." Sally ordered in a hushed voice, quietly sneaking completely into the room, but harshly jolted in fright when the door suddenly slammed shut behind them, a man's low laughter suddenly emitting through out the grungy room.

"... You must be _their_ friends, I see.." An unseen car nearly growled towards the both of them.

"Who are you, and where are my friends?" Sally cut in rather sternly, Lena in her defense stance right beside her friend.

"Ah, I see we have an impatient little one here!" The car who'd just been speaking, showed himself under a beaming bright light.

"So, do you have any idea who I am?" The slightly rusted blue car said, inching closer and closer to Sally and Lena. His frame figure was small in size and almost seemingly representing a 1988 Honda CRX-HF. His expression was unreadable, to the point where it was frightening.

"N-No..." Sally responded in an accidental stutter, nervously backing up a bit.

Again, he inched closer and closer until Sally unfortunately bumped against the concrete wall behind her, faintly gasping as she did.

"I'm Lightning McQueen's Brother."

Both Lena and Sally went wide-eyed, staring in disbelief at the car that was in front of them, his deep blue ocean-like eyes peering down at them with so many emotions mixed into them, it was nearly impossible to figure out his mood.

"Brother...? But..- Wait..- How..- Why are you doing all of this?" Sally stumbled over all of the things that she wanted to immediately say at once. but ended up shouting at him in uncontainable frustration.

"For revenge... Sweet, Sweet revenge.." His mad-like grin grew into a ghastly terrifying one, slowly backing himself away.

Sally was full of questions, but before she could say even a word more, ceiling lights suddenly shone brightly in the room and they were completely surrounded by a bunch of other cars, bigger and stronger looking than them. Sally gulped in fear, but Lena stood strong, ready to do what she had to do.

"**GET THEM**!"

Sally helplessly watched as Lena put her brilliant karate skills to good use, almost already putting all of the cars to shame.

As most of the others were being defeated and passing out from hood trauma, Sally took this as a great opportunity to search for Sheriff, Doc and Mater. She dodged away from damaged cars, and made her way to an open door. A few more doors that she passed, her eyes immediately landed upon Doc, Mater, and Sheriff being held hostage by thick chains being attached to the ground.

Sally panic-strikingly gasped and immediately drove up to Sheriff. She knew that he was still alive and stable, because he was still breathing just fine. Forcefully breaking the chains off of Sheriff and removing the blindfold from him, Sally cautiously nudged him awake, a terrifyingly worried expression masking her usually content demeanor.

"Sheriff! Sheriff, It's me, Sally! I'm here to get you guys out of here..!" She loudly whispered to him, anxiously waiting until he completely woke up from his uncalled-for slumber.

"S-Sally...? What... in the world are you doin' here..?" Sheriff muttered in shock as he carefully eyed her as she broke the chains off of Doc and Mater, with only her bare tires.

"Saving you guys." She responded effortlessly, noticing Mater slowly start to open his eyes.

"Mater...? Mater, can you hear me?" Sally lightly whispered to him, not wanting to frighten him anymore than he probably already was.

"W-Wh.. A-... Whure... is.. this?" Mater groaned out in confusion, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Don't worry about that right now, let's just get you home safely..." Sally left Mater to gather his senses beside Sheriff, and then without any thought, drove over to Doc. She threw the chains from him aside, and slipped the blind fold off. Doc had his eyes fully closed, and was badly injured with scratches, dents and somewhat flat tires. Sally shook her head with slightly wide eyes at the sight of him so beaten up, feeling a sensation of solicitude in the pit of her tank.

"Doc...? Are you awake? Answer me, please." Sally desperately pleaded, but had gotten no response from him.

"You guys, we really need to get him back, he's not even responsive..." She alerted Sheriff and Mater in a warning tone of voice, glancing over to look at the two who were now wide-awake and aware of their sudden foreign surroundings.

Just then, Lena came rushing into the room and literally frantically yelled at everyone with an exhausted but terrified look on her face.

"We have to get out of here, NOW!" Lena demanded and watched as Sally immediately turned to Mater.

"Mater, do you feel well enough to tow Doc back to Radiator Springs?" Sally concernedly asked him.

"Well, I'm feelun' juss fine; Shure, I can." Mater said in a slightly muttered voice, hooking Doc up carefully with his tow cable.

"Brilliant; Now, let's get out of here...!" Sally said in relief to everyone, firstly taking the lead with Sheriff.

Sally, Sheriff, Lena, Doc and Mater had made it out of the building safely and without getting caught, and so now the only thing that they had to worry about was getting back home in one piece. About only 3 miles into the long drive back to Radiator Springs, Doc had out-of-the-blue, started to slowly but surely regain consciousness.

Lena was the last one that was following behind everybody, and seen Doc suddenly try to open his eyes but he was too weak to even to such a small thing, so he ended up just re-closing them, emitting a very weak sigh.

"S-Sally, come here quick...!" Lena immediately hollered to Sally. Sally blink at hearing what Lena said, and carefully slowed down to take a spot beside Lena, questioning her in curiosity.

"What's wrong?"

"I think he's waking up.." Lena gestured towards Doc.

Sally felt a small sudden wave of relief wash over herself, knowing that Doc was awake, but was still deep down worried that he wouldn't make it on time. She drove up closer to him and started speaking in a soft tone.

"Doc, are you okay? Are you in any pain..?" She spoke to him like a concerned mother would, but still kept that usual sweet tone in her voice.

Doc only faintly groaned in response and didn't say a word.

Lena payed attention to the conversation Sally attempted to start with Doc right in front of her, only to allow her expression to slip into disappointment. She silently prayed to herself that everyone would be alright and return back to Radiator Springs safely.

Almost four hours put into driving back home, Mater and Sheriff had unexpectedly run out of gas, leaving all of them to remain at the side of the road at one in the morning.

"Oh, this is terrible...!" Sally quietly exclaimed to herself, exhaling out in defeat.

"Whut is we gonna do now? Mater spoke up, while staring at everyone in disbelief.

"If we don't come up with a plan to go through with, we'll be stranded out here for the rest of the night!" Sally attempted to think as hard as she could to come up with a plan, but nothing.

Lena, who was unable to sit back and watch all of this go downhill from here, went up to Sally and slightly nudged her, getting her attention.

"I could keep driving back to town and call for help..! It's only another two hour drive, and I can drive fast! Come on, I can do this!" Lena cheered, begging Sally.

"Lena, It's too dangerous to be driving this late at night by yourself; I can't let you do that!" Sally immediately denied, not wanting to live in guilt the rest of her life if something did happen to Lena.

"Please, Come on! This is an emergency! Would you rather wait here even 'Longer' and let him die? Or would you rather get to town and call for help, saving them and bring them home safely? Your choice.." Lena said in a bit of frustration towards Sally, making her stare at Lena with wide eyes.

Sally knew she was right, but she just couldn't let her go by herself so late at night.. But then again, she knew if they just waited around for nothing, something bad could happen to her friends and she would regret it forever.. Finally, she made her mind up.

"Go.." Sally nudged her forward towards the road and Lena looked back at her.

"Really?" She asked to make sure she wasn't hearing things.

"Just be careful.." Sally whispered to her before Lena valiantly nodded and quickly sped off, headed back to town.

Sally stared at the ground for a moment, thinking about what she had just done, but was suddenly thrown out of thought when she heard slightly heavy and distressed coughing coming from Doc.

Mater quickly unhooked his tow cable from Doc and maneuvered himself beside him, worried.

"Doc..? Is ya okay?" Mater asked, his voice in between worry and fear.

Doc tried to speak, to maybe say only a few words, but only resulted in more violent fits of coughing.

"You'll be just fine, Doc.. Don't worry, there's help coming so just try to hang in there..." Sally reassuringly cooed to Doc in attempt to try to calm him down in any which way possible. But, it seemed to actually work. He slowed down his coughing, and was breathing a bit heavily, almost panting, but better.

"There you go; Just relax, It's alright..." Sally softly whispered to him and watched as he closed his eyes and took a deep, shaky breath and let it out.

Mater faintly smiled at witnessing Sally's comforting reassurance. He was touched to see Sally be so helpful for Doc in his time of desperate need.

Everyone back at Radiator Springs had eventually realized that Sally and Lena 'were' missing. That made Lightning even more upset then he already was. Loosing his friends were bad enough, now loosing the last thing that he loved so dearly, shattered him to pieces. They were all gathered at the V8 café, waiting. Waiting for something, anything, to happen...

At exactly 3:33 am, they heard the frantic driving of a car come closer and closer into town. They all peeked down the road to see a sudden flash of headlights.

"Look; Someone's coming!" Flo hollered as everyone moved back in unison.

Right when Lena came into town, she rushed up to everyone and spoke rapidly.

"Sheriff, Mater, Sally and Doc are stranded nearly out in the middle of nowhere and they need help; NOW!" Lena practically shouted at everyone, Lightning's eyes widening in horror.

"...**What?**" Lightning hollered in disbelief, staring at Lena in shock.

Flo gasped in alarm and made her way towards Lena.

"Are they okay? What happened?" Flo went wide-eyed, set into her panic-mode.

"Well, Mater and Sheriff ran out of gas and Doc isn't really doing so well; Sally is there, making sure they're safe, but they need help and fast. We can't call 911 because we have no idea what the name of the area they're in is! If somehow, we could just bring some gas over to them so Mater could tow Doc back here then call an ambulance to take him to a hospital.." Lena said, at least more calmer this time.

"Well, we could fill up containers with some gas and take it to them!" Flo said, gesturing towards the gas containers at the café.

"That would be excellent, but, the drive is two hours! We need someone who could drive fast...-!" After her words were spoken, she eventually noticed everyone expectantly glancing towards Lightning.

"Oh, no... No, no, no, no, no..-! Come on! I don't even know if I'm capable of driving that fast anymore-!" Lightning retorted, waving his tire in the air to emphasize his point.

"Do it for your friends, Lightnin'! You're a strong car and I _know_ you can do it..." Flo encouraged him, using her motherly-sweet tone of voice.

Lightning thought hard, pondering over the idea. Knowing that this was to be done for his friends, his 'best' friends, nothing would be able to stop him. Nothing could hold him back anymore.

"OK. Only because it's for my friends and especially Sally... But if I break down in the middle of nowhere, It's not my fault!" Lightning said in courage as Flo handed him two fresh, full containers of gas and tied it securely over him.

"Good luck, Dear." Flo said sweetly, watching over him as he carefully prepared himself at the beginning of the long road.

He glanced all the way ahead of him, peering down the long, dark empty road that waited longingly for him. He stared ahead with determined eyes, revving his engine a few times.

First, there was the sound of slow and gentle rushing wind as he started off slow, but by the time he knew it, he was speeding across those paved roads, smiling proudly as the wind swiftly brushed past him at the fast speed he continued at going.

This was it.


	15. Chapter 15: That's What Friends Are For

Lightning McQueen, the world's fastest racing machine, was proudly again racing after his wreck of a lifetime.

He was in contentment and had a burst full of energy, too distracted to feel any pain that might have been there. Passing up the other cars in ease, he sped as fast as possible until he seen a familiar tow truck coming in view. Mater! Nearly at the last minute, he switched lanes to get on the side they were on and heavily braked right by them, leaving a light ghostly cloud of smoke behind him.

"Someone need a refill?" Lightning flashed them a valiant smile.

"Stickers! How- What are...- _What_ are you doing here?" Sally said in the most shock she's probably ever been in.

Lightning chuckled and untied both containers of gas from himself and immediately refilled Sheriff.

"Just here to help the people I care about..." He said thoughtfully and a small smile crossed his lips.

"Lightnin', Buddy! How is ya?" Mater hollered in his usual 'country-accent', finally able to see his best friend nice and healthy again.

Lightning half-heartedly laughed at Mater. "Hey, buddy! I'm great, It's been a while since I've seen you, Eh?"

"A while-? Dadgum; I really missed ya!" Mater exclaimed, as happy as ever at the moment.

As Lightning finished with Sheriff, he went up by Mater and refilled his tank with the second container filled with gas.

"Whoo-ee! Thanks dere, Lightnin'! Who knows whut could've dun' happened to us if ya hadn't came to tha rescue!"

Lightning slightly shook his hood at Mater's words and once he was all finished up, his eyes lied across Doc, clearly noticing that he really 'was' in bad condition.

"Is... Is Doc ok?" Lightning worriedly asked, staring at the Hudson Hornet in concern.

"Well, I wouldn't say he's doing so great.." Sally said in disappointment, driving up besides Lightning to comfort him a little bit.

At hearing Mater turn his engine on again, Lightning and Sally watched helplessly as Mater cautiously hooked Doc to his tow cable and began driving towards the road, carefully.

"We should start heading back now. Let's go...-" Sheriff informed, shifting back onto the road with Mater, Doc, Lightning and Sally following close behind.

Doc emitted a half-conscious low groan, feeling strangely weaker than ever. Lightning remained right behind Doc and heard his weak attempt to try to speak again.

"Doc? Doc, It's me, Lightning... Can you hear me?" Lightning asked in attempt to maybe start to talk to him.

All Doc could see was nothing but dark, blurred figures of different colors and he only heard muffled voices. Nothing came clear to him at all.

Lightning's expression slowly turned into an upset one, but only a few minutes later, he felt anger like no other, boiling up within his very being.

"I swear, whoever did this to you, Doc...- I'm going to make sure they never see daylight again..." Lightning threateningly muttered under his breath, not minding if Doc heard what he had just said.

He meant it. And whatever he means in all seriousness, he keeps true to his word. No matter what.


	16. Chapter 16: Fear & Doubt

As they finally arrived, back at Radiator Springs, everyone else in the town came towards them in a burst of deep confusion and concern, making a circle around Sheriff, Lightning, Sally, Mater and Doc. They all stared at Doc in fear, worried that his condition could become worst.

"Is he alright?" "Is he hurt?" "Someone should call an ambulance..!" "Ok, go call 911, now!" "**Hurry**!" Everyone yelled at the same time, causing a commotion of incoherent sentences to be hung into the cool summer air. Soon enough, Flo rushed back to the V8 café to call for an ambulance.

Close to about 20 minutes later, the sound of an emergency siren filled the air until it closely approached the town. A paramedic quickly drove out of the ambulance and immediately saw Doc in the worst condition that he was in.

"Oh goodness; He looks severely dehydrated and sick. We need to get him on some fluids and medicine, quick..!" The paramedic stated, maneuvering Doc into the ambulance and going over to Lightning and Sally because they seemed to be the ones that couldn't get their eyes off of him.

"We'll get him all fixed up, don't worry. We're taking him to the nearest hospital, St. Amerian's about fifteen minutes away from here... By tomorrow morning, we will have already put him in a room so, Is there a number we could reach you at, just in case?..." The medic trailed off before Flo hastily handed him a piece of paper with two numbers on it. Most likely the numbers to the V8 cafe and the Cozy Cone.

"Please call anytime." Flo alerted him and watched as the medic drove into the ambulance beside Doc.

"Take care, now." He said before the ambulance doors closed shut and they drove off.

The town watched from the middle of the road as the ambulance disappeared out of sight. They all stood in silence, slowly driving away one by one, leaving Sally and Lightning alone in the middle of the street.

"Stickers...-" Sally tried speaking to him, but slightly frowned as he just turned away from her and drove back to the cozy cone alone.

The amount of hurt and despair that could be seen just in her eyes remained, bur she slowly shook her hood and silently drove back to the cozy cone. She soundlessly opened Lightning's door and saw him glancing out of the window, so deep in thought with the same hurt expression written intricately in his eyes. Slowly approaching him, he suddenly said in a low voice.

"Sal, I don't...- Could you... Leave..? I just want to be alone for a little..." Lightning muttered, slowly closing his eyes in regret.

Sally could sense the heavy hurt coming from him, but she still obeying-ly nodded and gently kissed his side in reassurance, softly speaking as she backed away.

"I understand... I'll be in my office doing some work for a little... If you need me, you know where I am.." She said in her carefully gentle voice, leaving his cone and shutting the door behind her.

Lightning scrunched his face in displeasure, hating what he just did. He knew he needed someone to talk to, but was still too stubborn to even do it. It was something he needed to overcome. This pathetic stubbornness that still plagued him.

Just knowing the fact that the friendly relationship he was starting to have with Doc, could all be over in just a blink of an eye. If Doc were to leave everyone so soon, he would probably be so traumatized to even do anything anymore.

Lightning shakily exhaled in frustration, trying to clear his mind of such negative thoughts. He sat there in thought for about a full ten minutes and then unexpectedly opened the door, driving out and tried being as quiet as possible.

Sally was in her office, doing some forgotten paper work, and Lightning soundlessly drove closer and closer to the road, quickly and purposely revving his engine a few times too loud, and immediately sped off. Just before he disappeared into the night, Sally had quickly turned her gaze to see who had been causing the sudden noise and seen a quick glance of the familiar red racecar. She abruptly dropped she was doing and quickly drove outside to the road, trying to see if she saw anything. She did see a faint glint of Lightning in the distance and in a flash, raced off in his direction to find him.

Now; was not a good time for him to disappear like this.


	17. Chapter 17: Pull Yourself Together

Nearly thirty minutes of searching and driving, a teary eyed Lightning McQueen remained far from the edge of a large cliff, staring ahead at the magnificent view.

Sally paused and silently watched from a far off distance. He wasn't doing a thing but staring off into the gradient, starry night sky with clear signs of hurt seen in his beautiful blue eyes.

She had never seen him, ever, like this before and it just shattered her heart. Wondering to herself if she should just leave him alone or try to talk to him, she ended up choosing the latter. Trying to be as quiet as possible, she drove up to him and purposely cleared her throat to carefully catch his attention.

Lightning was caught by surprise and quickly turned around to see Sally who was worried and serious about the situation.

"Sal, What are you doing h-"

"I know, I know.. You probably just want to be alone for a little while, but, I _really_ need to talk to you about this..." She pleaded, driving a little bit closer to him.

"I would have never known.. that all of this would end so badly... I thought that once you got out of the hospital, everything would go back to normal, but instead, It's been getting worse... You know, from the tornado, to the carnapping,-"

"What exactly are you getting at?" Lightning rudely interrupted her, wanting her to just cut to the point already.

"Stickers, I hate seeing you so upset like this, and I know you're completely shaken up and scared, especially for Doc..." She finally said, watching as slight tears started threatening to escape his eyes again.

"...He will be fine, Stickers, there's nothing to worry about. He's strong and confident, just like you.." She softly replied, reaching out to gently touch at his tire.

"Cry." She calmly told him to. He completely knew what she meant by that, and every held back emotion came spilling out; after so many years.

Out of all of the cars in the world, Sally Carrera was the one, comforting a crying Lightning McQueen. She knew that he was trying so hard to hold his feelings in for so long, but that would just make him feel even worse. Crying would always end in relief.

She comforted him like she normally would with small, "shh's", and whispering, "It's alright, just let it out..".

Lightning felt so humiliated and weak for crying like this in front of her, but damn, did he have to admit, he felt so much better afterwards. When he'd finally managed to re-gather himself and calm down, he took a slightly quivered deep breath and slowly exhaled, speaking in a low and slightly raspy voice. "Thanks..."

"See? Don't you feel much better now?" She said in her usual soft and gentle tone of voice.

Lightning slightly nodded and closed his eyes, feeling so suddenly sleepy.

"I think I knew all along that I needed that... Thank you, Sal; you really mean a lot to me..." He muttered to her, lightly leaning against her.

Sally smiled sweetly and kissed his side just soft enough to cause him to shudder a little bit.

Both of them remained in blissful silence, enjoying the unexpected tranquil moment of that night.

Minutes later, Lightning started yawning and trying to fight off sleep.

"Uh-oh, looks like someone's getting tired.. Should we go back?" Sally had let go of him and turned to look for the road, but only saw trees and grass in view.

He honestly didn't feel like driving all the way back to Radiator Springs, so he just backed himself up, away from the cliff, and went under two large willow trees near a small little meadow of tall green grass right behind them.

"Can't we just sleep here tonight...?" He pleaded, assuming that she would automatically say 'no'. But to his surprise, she actually agreed this time.

"Okay... But only tonight, because it's a pretty far drive back.." She said, driving back beside him under the two willow's.

He warmly smiled at her and kept his tired eyes drifting about the night stars. Never in his entire life had he felt so... serene. After that long, but helpful cry and such a wonderful night, it was one step closer back to the good and positive.

Sally nuzzled herself cozily next to Lightning, closing her eyes in comfort. He unwillingly reached out and held her tire, closing his eyes and almost immediately fell off into a deep sleep along with her. After all, they suppose things were starting to get back on track.

* * *

><p>Wires. Needles. Syringes. Machines. Bandages. All of those were now connected to the one and only, Doc Hudson. The same, melodic beeping of the IV machine woke him up, along with three staff nurses.<p>

"...ke up. Come on, wake up.. Alright, there you go...-"

Muffled voices flooded Doc's ears, but none of it still came clear until he squinted his light blue eyes open, only to be nearly blinded by the brightly lit hospital lights. Adjusting to the lighting after a short while, nurses were surrounding him, making sure he was stable.

"How do you feel?" One nurse asked him while the others attended to him.

All he could do was groan in pain, unable to say anything.

"Oh dear; Looks like you aren't able to speak just yet..." That nurse disappointedly said.

One nurse suddenly injected a liquid pain-killer into his IV fluids.

"This will definitely make the pain go away at least for a few hours, about three of four. Whenever you feel more pain, give us a call, and we'll give you a slightly higher dosage." The second nurse informed him with a kind smile.

All he could do was groan a faint"uh-huh..." to them.

As soon as the all left, Doc no longer felt any pain. Thankful for that, he unexpectedly coughed heavily a few times and suddenly, horrid memories came flooding back to his mind of what happened to him.

Too explicit to even think about, he quickly tried thinking of something else, and thought of the first car that came to mind. Lightning.


	18. Chapter 18: Taking a Turn For The Worst

Lightning and Sally were both slowly awakened by the sound of soft, chirping car birds. Sally thought she was the first one to wake up, but when she realized that Lightning wasn't next to her the moment she opened her eyes, she glanced around in confusion.

"Stickers...? Hey, Sticke-"

"Gotcha'!" He literally pounced out at her from behind, using his tires to playfully nudge her side.

"Ohmygosh!" Sally shouted in fright for a second, but ended up exhaling loudly, only realizing that it was just the one she was looking for, being a fool.

"I thought I told you before, don't do that..!" She lightly hit his side while he just laughed at her in amusement.

"Sorry, I just had to." He admitted, driving right beside her.

Sally slightly rolled her eyes and glanced around at their surroundings. No roads were in sight within miles and miles.

"Hey, I think...- We miiiight have gone a little too far while driving out last night..." She said slightly uneasily, making Lightning also peer around in confusion.

"dang-it...!" He yelled but slightly hushed it, while glancing around.

"Which way do you think the road would be...?" Sally asked, looking ahead at nothing but a field of flowers and grass. At least it was a little nice.

"I don't know; let's try going... this way." Lightning motioned her towards a certain direction.

After a full forty-five minute drive, still no road, just plain old grass.

"Great, just great..." Sally hissed, starting to get a little irked herself and Lightning seemed to clearly notice it.

"Sally Listen, Just calm down, I-"

"Calm down? How-" She paused to mockingly laugh. "How can I _calm down,_ when we are in the middle of absolutely NOWHERE! This is all of **your** fault! If you hadn't driven all the way out here last night, this would have never happened in the first place!" She finally shouted in frustration.

That immediately set him off.

"W-What...? _My_ fault? You were the idiot one that followed after! You should have just stayed back at the town and minded your own business!"

"I only followed after because I really _was_ worried about you... Do you think I don't even care; So why are you calling me an idiot?" Sally angrily retorted. Lightning just grunted and rolled his eyes.

"If you cared, you would have just stayed back at home and let me be alone for one **second**! You never let me be! Don't you think I need time on my own, too?" Lightning shot her a glare.

"If you were so bothered by that, you should have just told me to leave you alone then!"

"Ooh, coomee ooon! I've told you many times,_ many times_ before to leave me alone, and yet, you still never do! You're so annoying, sometimes!" He yelled at her, ready to just leave already.

"Like you've never gotten on my nerves before…" She said under her breath, but he still clearly heard what she said.

"You know what, I'm done..." He abruptly slammed his tire onto the dusty ground beneath him and swiftly turned away from her to leave.

"Done with what? Acting stupid and _immature_?" Sally retorted just before he escaped.

Lightning opened his mouth to rudely respond, but so caught up in the moment, he just said one thing he never thought he would say to her.

"Just shut up, will you! If you think you're so smart, find the way back yourself! I'M LEAVING!" He screamed his last and final words at her right before speeding off, leaving a heavy cloud of dust that engulfed her completely.

She violently coughed from the dust and smoke and angrily glared at him as he raced away. One last scream was all it took for Sally to finally loose her mind.

"**AAH**! I HATE YOU, DO YOU HEAR THAT, McQUEEN? **HATE YOU**!"

Her voice echoed amongst the deserted plains, finally alone by herself.

* * *

><p>"...Who does she think she is..?... Telling me this is all my fault? Tch, <em>idiot<em>!..." Lightning mumbled to himself, driving nonstop at nearly 100 mph's down the long, empty road. To his luck, he had found the road, but didn't care at all anymore because he was still going on about the 'fight' they just had.

Deep down inside of him, he wondered if Sally was alright and worried about leaving her behind like that. But that really didn't take a lot of thinking about because he was obviously still enraged.

Lightning didn't know, but he was actually headed the right direction back to Radiator Springs. Only taking up about fifteen minutes of his time, he finally arrived back home. The only person to see him first was Lena, who he hasn't really seen in a while because she was hanging around with the town a lot more.

"Hi Lightning!" Driving to the cozy cone, Lena attempted to talk to him, but he rudely shut his cone door behind him. Lena blinked in confusion, wondering what his problem was. She slowly turned around and decided to go back to Flo's, but _then_, she saw Sally.

"Sally; How ar-?"

Again, Sally slammed the cozy cone office door behind her, not even acknowledging that Lena was there.

"What the-...?" Lena muttered to herself before driving back to Flo's.

"You guys, I think there's something wrong with Lightning and Sally..." Lena alerted the town, which made them all stare at her in confusion.

"Why do ya say 'dat?" Mater asked in his flat-out confused tone of voice.

"Well, When I saw Lightning, he looked really angry about something... Then I saw Sally and she looked pretty angry too. I have no Idea what's going on, but I think someone should go try talking to one of them about it.." Lena thought as she cautiously turned around, glancing at the Cozy Cone.

"Maybe they got in a fight..?" Flo came driving out from the café, overhearing what Lena said and looked towards her.

"I really hope not... Now isn't a really great time for them to be angry at each other!" Lena exclaimed and everyone nodded, agreeing with her.

Lena wanted their… whatever fight, to end as quick as possible. She glanced over at Mater.

"Mater, come with me for a minute." She suddenly said, having a plan in mind.

"Uhh, shure thing, Lena..." Mater confusingly muttered, following close behind her.

"So, what're we doin'?" He quietly asked since they stopped right in front of the Cozy Cone.

"I want you to go talk to lightning and try to find out what's wrong. I'll go talk to Sally and hear her part of the story, okay..?"

Yes, ma'am!" Mater obliged as Lena drove to Sally and he drove to Lightning.

"Hey, Lightnin'?" Mater knocked on the door with his tire, talking purposely aloud.

"Mater, not. now." Lightning said sternly behind the other side of the door.

Mater slightly pouted to himself and tried thinking of something.

"I... I juss' wanna talks' to ya!" Mater hollered, hoping Lightning would come out.

"I don't want to talk to _anyone_ right now! Just go away!" Lightning shouted in irritation, not saying another word after that.

Mater's eyes slightly widened in surprise at his harsh words, but he shook his head in defeat and drove off, hoping that Lena would have some luck with Sally.

Lena was at least able to get to Sally and she seemed very upset. Sally didn't even look at Lena, but she was just staring at the random papers scattered all across her desk with a frustrated look.

"Sally, what's going on...? I know there's something wrong and if you'll let me, I want to help..." Lena spoke in a reassuring tone, wanting to make Sally as calm as possible.

Sally kept quiet for a few seconds but then responded.

"Lightning and I just got into a fight.." Sally scowled in displeasure at just mentioning his name.

Lena sighed and shook her hood slightly, moving over a little closer to Sally.

"About.. what…?" Being as polite as possible, Lena asked her, trying to dig out as much information as possible to help.

Sally just couldn't bring herself to talk about it so quickly and she suddenly moved away from Lena.

"Listen, I really don't want to talk about this right now… Can I just talk to you later about it?" Sally said in a surprisingly hurt tone.

Lena just stared for a quick second before lightly nodding.

"Yeah…sure…" Lena softly said before quietly leaving the office, hearing a really low sobbing-like sound come from behind her.

Lena saw Mater parked not too far away from the Cozy Cone and she drove up to him.

"Any luck, Mater?" Lena asked.

Mater sunk in his tires in disappointment, nodding his hood no. "Nupe…"

Lena's eyes went slightly wide in shock, but it _was_ to be expected, after all.

"We have to try to do something…! We can't give up.." Lena encouraged Mater and somewhat herself as well.

"But how? 'Dey won't even talk ta us! And whut just happened was obvious evidence that 'dey won't be talkin' anytime soon..." Mater reminded her.

"Oh, you'll see… You. Will. See..." Lena mumbled almost to herself in determination, driving the opposite direction from the Cozy Cone in search of a plan.


	19. Chapter 19: So, The Plan?

"Ugh…" An older car's voice groaned as the morning sun rudely awakened him from his slumber.

Doc Hudson, who was currently held in the hospital for nearly two days, still trying to recover, was rather upset this morning. He had a dream that had been a horrid repeat of what happened to him when he was carnapped. The very thought of that made him feel sick and dizzy; Like he wasn't already feeling bad… He carefully opened his eyes and didn't move. He didn't hear anything going on outside of his door, just silence.

The only thing he could think about was that dream…

**-(Dream) Flashback-**

_He felt restricted, unable to make one move. A blindfold was wrapped firmly around his eyes (windshield) and heavy chains were latched around him, making it hard to escape. His surroundings were unknown, because it was too dark in the room to see a thing and also, because of the blindfold. Muffled voices were heard far off but he kept quiet as possible. A door to his right opened, bright light now flooding the room. An unknown car went up to him and smirked._

_"I __**know**__ you know where Lightning McQueen is… Where is he?" The mysterious car said to Doc._

_Doc said not a word because, well, he was frozen in fear._

_"You better respond, or else…" The car threatened._

_"…No…" Doc mumbled._

_"Ah, I see how it is, then…'' He said darkly, slowly backing up._

_"…Listen.." Doc started, which made him stop in his tracks._

_"What?"_

_"…First tell me who you are…" Doc raised his voice a little higher._

_"Let's just say I'm.. related to him…'' He said, which made Doc become more interested._

_"What the heck do you what with him, then?" Doc yelled, getting annoyed by this._

_"He needs to die." The car growled, clearly getting irritated._

_"What did he do..?"_

_"That's for me to know, and for you not to find out…" He growled under his breath before he left, slamming the door behind him._

_Doc exhaled and only seconds later, he heard a grinding of metal and chains. Just the sound of it made him shiver in fear… Not too much later, the doors once again opened and the noise because so deafeningly loud, Doc could have sworn he lost his hearing momentarily._

_He felt like something was lifting him up and before he knew it, he was carried to another room and his blindfold was finally taken off and what he saw nearly frightened him to death and made him wish his blindfold was still on. So much surgical equipment that was filthy and it looked like someone had just been beaten and had bled to death on the other side of the room._

_Doc winced as a heavy whip was suddenly slashed across his left side harshly, causing pain to shoot through his entire body._

_"You feel that? Every time you don't tell me what I need to know, you will get punished. Now, answer my question. Where is that Lightning McQueen?" The same car from earlier said in the darkest tone ever._

_Doc wouldn't tell this jerk for nothing and so again, he was whipped even harder this time. He groaned out in searing pain, not knowing if he could keep on going with this…_

_"SAY IT!" He shouted, raising the whip one last time at Doc and he immediately hollered out,_

_"HE DOESN'T DESERVE TO DIE, but I know someone who does." Doc referred to the car he was speaking to and suddenly felt another harsh blow of the whip, damage his right side. The searing pain nearly made him pass out, but he stood strong, hoping that he would soon be let free._

_"You have one last chance to tell me, or that's the end of you…" He threatened Doc one last time._

_"I'LL NEVER TELL YOU! YOU DISGUSTNG, VILE CREATURE." Doc hissed in anger._

_That was it. A few more multiple whippings were all it took to make Doc pass out in agonizing pain._

**-End of Flashback-**

Still, to this very point, Doc still wondered what that guy wanted with Lightning…

-**Back at RS-**

"No! I won't talk to her ever _again_!"

"Lightning! Don't say that!-"

"Well, how else do you want me to say it?"

"I thought you loved her..?"

"Well, not anymore!"

"You know you're being stupid about this."

"Whatever!"

Lightning darted off somewhere else into town, enraged. Lena had caught up him and had tried getting him to go apologize to Sally, but he was being way too stubborn to listen to anyone anymore. Lena shook her head in displeasure and drove off into the opposite direction.

The town was doing their own thing, but still worried about Lightning and Sally. This was the longest they've ever been mad at each other. They really needed to make up soon or else things weren't going to be so great.

As Lightning passed the Cozy Cone, he couldn't help himself but to turn to look at it. He saw Sally in the office, doing her usual work. He immediately looked away and drove off.

'No, I _can't_ do that…' He thought to himself and slightly scowled.

'Maybe Lena is right… I think I am being stupid about this... I think I should-' His thoughts where cut short when he heard a familiar car's voice.

"-...Boy, You comin' or what?" Sheriff said in a slightly loud voice to Lightning, asking him the second time.

"O-Oh, What…? Where?" Lightning gave him a slightly spaced-out, questioning look.

"To go visit Doc at the hospital, dummy!"

"Oh, right; I'm coming…" Lightning sighed and shook his hood a bit.

Not only was Sheriff going, but also Flo, Ramone, Mater, Lena and… Sally.

Lightning had glanced at Sally and at the same time, she had too. Upon eye contact, she surprisingly gave him a hurt but annoyed look and drove off behind the others. Lightning felt hurt and angry at himself down inside. Even though he was trying hard to get himself to just quit this foolishness and go apologize to Sally, something held him back, and he was getting sick and tired of it. Slowly following the others, he remained deep in thought.

Lena had saw what had happened and slightly smirked to herself.

"Mater, are you sure this'll work?" Lena whispered to him in question and he nodded with assurance.

"Yup, i'm shure..!" Mater nodded, a small grin covering his face.

"Great..." Lena smiled, bringing her attention back towards the road.

The moment they approached their destination, Lena and Mater went to the front desk, while the others went into the waiting room.

"Oh, yes, he's in room 314." The receptionist at the front desk said kindly.

"Thank you, miss." Lena said. She moved away a bit and nodded to Mater and they drove to the waiting room.

Lena approached Sally and got her attention.

"Do you want to go see Doc? I'll show you to his room if you want." Lena said sweetly.

"Oh, sure thing, Lena.." Sally said, following Lena to the elevator.

Just behind them were Lightning and Mater on their way to Doc's room too. They took another elevator on the other side of the hospital and both elevators thankfully opened at the same time. At one turn of a corner, Mater and Lena immediately slowed down, causing Lightning and Sally to involuntarily bump into each other at the turn.

"Hey, watch where you're going you idiot!" Sally hissed, throwing him a nasty glare.

"Ugh, you watch where you're going!" Lightning glared back at her, causing an uneasy feeling in the air.

Lena and Mater both stared at each other in nervousness. Now was the perfect time to make their move, and Lena gave Mater the final signal.

Lena went back to the elevator, but didn't press the button just yet.

"Uh, hey Lightnin, I wanna show ya sumtin', Look!" Mater hollered, almost immediately getting his full attention.

"What?" Lightning asked in irritation.

"_This_!"

At one whip of his tow cable, he had hooked Lightning from the back and literally tossed him down the hallway, inching closer and closer near the elevator.

"G'AHHH!" He yelled, trying to get himself to stop. He pressed on his brakes as hard as he could, but still couldn't come to a halt. At the exact right timing, Lena pressed the elevator button and the doors opened quickly, making Lightning hit the elevator wall.

"Mater!-" Lena shouted and Mater did the same thing with Sally.

Just before the elevator doors shut, Sally too made it inside of the elevator and the doors finally sealed shut.

Lena took the elevator paneling off and snapped all of the wires, making it break down.

Mater came up beside Lena and smiled.

"It worked!" She happily smiled and Mater shouted a "WOO-HOO!"

"Great job, Mater!" She praised him with a relieved smile.

"Ya too, Lena!"

"Now, we hope that they make up…"

"…Or make-out…"

"Mater!"

"Heheh…"

* * *

><p>AN: LOL I'm so stupid. I was sleeping for only two hours, frustrated on how I should make Lightning and Sally make up and I jolted up out of bed yelling and screaming across the house, "OH MY GOD, ELEVATORS! WHERE'S MY COMPUTER?"

So it's like 1 in the morning and I've been up writing it. :P I always get ideas when I think about the most stupidest of things. Thanks for reading, hope I gave you a little laugh. xD


	20. Chapter 20: Make up or Break up

Still getting over the sudden impact Lightning just had with the wall, he pried his eyes open and glanced around with confusion written all over his face.

He had no idea that someone else had been in this elevator with him, and that someone just had to be Sally.

"_Ugh_..." She groaned groggily, shaking out her tires in attempt to shake off the pain.

"Pleeeaase, tell me that isn't you..." Lightning grumbled through the dark in displeasure.

"Lightning, I don't want to be in here with you as much as you don't either. Fighting right now wouldn't be such a great idea so just please, don't get on my nerves..." Sally attempted to respond as appeasing as possible, shutting her eyes to momentarily collect her thoughts.

Lightning rolled his eyes and kept his mouth shut for the remainder of the time, sinking on his tires anxiously.

Fortunately, a dim yellow light just then flickered itself on near the top right of the elevator where he was. Lightning's eyes traveled up to examine the pale light. In a curious manner, he turned to glance at Sally.

She clearly had her tire on the elevator panel and unknowingly pressed on the emergency light button, to her luck. Just near that button was a large red button that was the emergency call button. She was on the verge of going insane, being in a confined space for more than she wanted to. She immediately slammed on the button waiting patiently as possible for something to happen but... nothing.

Now was the moment she lost her cool. She slammed on the button vigorously, her temper getting the best of her. Her eyes were visibly filled with anger as she screamed out,

"COME _ON_!"

Lightning winced in fright, about to say something to her but guess she beat him to the punch. And what she was about to say would really be a punch to the face...

"Idiot, are you just going to sit there and do nothing or are you going to help us get out of here?" She angrily snapped.

Lightning couldn't believe what he just heard and was just way to shocked to get angry with her and just said…

"Excuse me? For one thing, there is no way to get out! We're clearly **trapped** and who knows how long we'll be in here for!"

Her mouth opened half ways to retort something smart-ass to him, but instead, her engine boiled over in anger and something clicked inside her, making her feel unbelievably irked. She was still; just staring with a menacing glare at Lightning. Honestly, he was terrified by her stare; words couldn't describe how evil she looked right now. Just as he was going to look away from her out of fright, she growled. Seriously. Growled in pure anger. She could just feel herself wanting to explode, an unstoppable rush of putrid hate and rage. Even Lightning could feel how angry she was just being near her, he was trapped in here with no way to get away from him. Oh man, was he screwed.

He cleared his throat nervously, accidentally making eye contact with her.

"S-Sal, don't... I know you want to, but please, just... just calm down. Can we just talk about thi-"

"No... No, _Lightning_-"

He cringed at the mention of her saying his actual name with a threatening tone of voice, It made him wish this was just a dream; More like a terrible nightmare.

"Talking is exactly what got us into this mess... I don't want to do this anymore, I can't stand it! If you really don't care about any of this anymore, why don't you just leave." She slightly calmed her tone a little bit, looking off to the ground.

"Leave...?-"

"Leave Radiator Springs." She bluntly retorted, her eyes giving off the impression that she was very upset.

"But... S-Sal, I-"

"Don't. I don't want to hear it anymore..." Hurt was heard clearly through her voice, causing Lightning to feel like he was just crushed with a thousand pound weight.

He was paralyzed in despair, he was actually feeling tears swell within his saddened, bright blue eyes. He slightly backed up an inch away and just after everything she just said, he just couldn't bring himself to look away from her emotionless green eyes. After everything they've went through, everything they've said, everything they've done, and that was it? Just like that? Lightning completely refused to listen to her. He could never leave Radiator Springs, the one and only place he would ever call his home.

"Sally, I'm not leaving. I'd never leave. Radiator Springs is the _only_ place I'd ever call my home... If I were to leave, right now, I wouldn't know where to go or what to do without you guys. Sal, I know you're just saying these things right now because you're upset, but…- but just hear me out..." He started to speak, but looked like she wasn't even listening. (Though, she really was.)

"I don't know what's going on in your head right now but just remember, you don't really mean any of those things you've just said to me. You don't really want me to leave. Sal, I…-" He momentarily paused to softly sigh. "I... love you... Don't ever forget that..."

Sally's heart felt as though it was about to tear right in two. He was right, she really didn't mean those harsh things she said before and most certainly didn't mean to be so hateful towards him. After hearing what he just told her, she did indeed feel quite terrible. But, who wouldn't?

In a quiet whisper, she almost inaudibly whispered to him, finally her nice side coming back.

"...sorry..."

That small whisper made him abruptly look up at her and move an inch closer towards her.

"Excuse me, what?" Lightning asked in a slightly bolder tone, making her speak more audibly.

"I'm sorry." She spoke louder this time, giving him a seemingly apologetic look.

"I thought that's what you said..." He smirked to himself and drove next to her, giving her a small nudge.

"You know, I just really hate it when we get in stupid, meaningless fights like this and I'm sorry I became part of it, too… I never meant any of those harsh things I might have said to you, I was only so caught up in the moment, and I don't know what came over me... So, what do you say we start fresh again? Forget about this fight…?"

Sally couldn't say a lot after hearing what he had to say and just allowed a small bur relieved smile cross her lips.

"I guess that would be the wisest thing to do…"

"That's my Sal." Lightning warmly smiled at her, glad to see that she's finally back to her normal self again.

"...What do you say we try to get out of here now…?" She spoke up while anxiously glancing around the dimmed elevator.

He exhaled and chuckled a bit, glancing towards the elevator door.

"Ah, It's worth a try."

* * *

><p>AN: Say thank you to my brain for being polite and letting me re-write this in much ease. No more errors? Less awkward? OK!


	21. Chapter 21: Insomnia

A/N: I would never leave any story unfinished! I just want to apologize for not updating this story in sooo long, I've been ridiculously busy and I haven't had the time to read over any mistakes in the story. But, here's to chapter 21 and updating all of the other chapters for error-fixes, Happy (early) Valentines Day!

* * *

><p>Weeks and Weeks have passed since the <em>carnapping<em> incident occurred. But thankfully, all of that was behind them now. Not one trace of any memory or mention of that subject were brought up or thought of, ever again. Doc was, well, up and running again. Lightning and Sally deemed their relationship to be inseparable, while the rest of the town finally received a break from all of the drama that had been going on. Lena and Mater had ended up forming a sister-brother relationship over time, and spent _hours and hours_ with each other almost every day. All was smooth, no problems, no drama, just the sweet sound of the calm blowing of the wind outside.

* * *

><p>Over at the Cozy Cone though, Lightning and Sally were both cleaning around the place, having nothing else better to do.<p>

"Stickers, take this to the storage room, will you please? Thanks." Sally nudged over to him a cardboard box with a raggedy old looking piece of cloth hung out over the top. He effortlessly agreed and said not a word, lazily pushing the old box with his tire into the supply closet in the back of the front lobby. In his drowsy attempt to drive to the supply closet, he groaned in semi-fake agony.

The past couple of nights, he hasn't been getting proper sleep like he should have been getting. He didn't tell anyone this yet, but there's been something latched onto his mind lately.

That time when that mysterious car asked about Lightning when Sally was carnapped, made him more suspicious by the day. He desperately wanted to find out who was behind all of that, and why they were doing this. But at the same time, Lightning really didn't want to get himself into any more trouble, for the sake of Sally. He debated to himself if he should go and investigate alone, or just forget about it. Confusion and Irritation profusely clouded his mind, causing a slight anger to well up inside him.

As he slowly drove back to the front lobby, Sally was completely occupied, cleaning and organizing. He faintly sighed to himself quietly and headed towards the door but just as he was about to leave, Sally spoke up.

"Where are you going, Stickers..? You're being awfully quiet today... Should I be concerned?"

Lightning had stopped and glanced back towards her, letting out a more louder, audible sigh this time and shook his hood.

"I just haven't been getting a lot of sleep the past few nights, that's all..." He muttered half-heartedly, clear evidence of his current state.

She stopped what she was doing and turned to completely face him with her motherly concern showing on her face.

"No sleep? But you always sleep-! Like a baby..! Is there something on your mind?" She asked worriedly, waiting for his response.

Lightning reversed back into the room and faced her with a look that said,_ "Well-Obviously"_.

"Care to tell me..?"

"Sal, I don't think you'd be-"

"Be what?" She slightly interrupted. "Just tell me, Stickers..! You can trust me." She gave him an innocent look and of course, a few seconds later, he gave in.

"Hh, fine... Do you remember when you were "car-napped", and they asked you specifically for _me_? And not only did it happen to us, but it happened to Doc and Mater, too. What's really bothering me is that the same car that got you, got my _friends_. I'm only confused; why would they want me? I just wanna know _who_ that guy was and what business he wanted with me."

Sally went slightly wide-eyed. She was clearly disquieted about how all of this was starting to come up again; she absolutely dreaded the thought.

"Sally..." Lightning inched slightly closer to her, grabbing her attention.

She averted her large, worried-filled eyes to his clearly exhausted ones.

"I'm going to figure out myself who was behind all of this... I'm not giving up without a fight." Lightning boldly informed her, watching as her expressions changed within seconds.

"Stickers, are you serious-?"

"Yes! Yes, Sal, I am... I _need_ to know what those guys wanted with me... I know I shouldn't worry about it anymore, but it just has to be done. I need to get this out of my head once and for all." He stated.

"And how do you plan to do that?" Sally questioned his previous statement, giving Lightning her full attention.

"I don't quite know yet, but I'll know _right_ after I take a nap." He faintly chuckled through his small yawn, starting to slowly drive in reverse towards Cone #3.

Sally softly nodded her hood and giggled, following after him.

"Are you sure you don't want anything to eat before you take a nap?" She generously asked.

"hm...- Nah, I'm good." He declined her offer and paused in his tracks once he reached his cone.

"Alright then." She warmly smiled, giving him a small kiss.

"Sleep well."

Lightning gave her a small nod and opened his door, casually driving inside with a chuckle.

"Don't worry, I will..."

At his last words before slumber, she slowly drove back to her office as soon as he closed his door, still keeping his recent argument over the "carnapping" incident in thought. Unfortunately, she couldn't help but feel feel quite uneasy about the situation coming up all over again.

She slowly sunk into her tires behind her desk, staring down at the small bunch of papers properly organized atop her desk with a blank expression. Just like before, she could feel the anxiousness and worry well up within her very being. Desperately, she wished that Lightning would just forget about this situation, but knowing that he's the determining type of guy, she knew that this wouldn't be a problem that he would just toss aside like nothing never happened, oh no. He won't quit until he finds out the truth, and the truth alone.

Sally softly sighed to herself at the thoughts that swam in her mind and slowly backed away from her desk, glancing out the window to peer out a bit. Until she was about to look away, she spotted Lena slowly driving with Mater down the road, appearing to be conversing about something quite funny since Mater was laughing hysterically.

Sally faintly smiled to herself at how much the two had become great friends in only a short time. They truly did look like brother and sister, since Lena did seem to be in her really early-teens. Past Lena's seemingly elegant wisteria shade of purple tinting her still-developing figure and her beautifully mixed hazel eyes, she was very intelligent and yet, had a convivial personality. It was no wonder why the two got along so well.

Sally warmly chuckled to herself and averted her gaze back towards her desk. Even though she had quite a lot on her mind, she still kept a smile on her face. Knowing that just a smile alone can put her at ease...

* * *

><p>Much more later into the day, just as the hazy sunset was beginning to form far off into the sky, everyone in Radiator Springs was gathered around Flo's café, all conversing about different things with each other in a calmly manner.<p>

Lightning had slept for nearly the entire day, which everyone found highly unusual. Although Sally _did_ know what was wrong with him, she calmly informed everyone in town that he just hadn't been getting a lot of sleep and he needed a little more rest.

Thankfully, they shrugged it off and eventually thought that it sounded reasonable enough, and didn't worry. Everyone, but one. Doc was the first to know that something wasn't right by just the awkward look in Sally's eyes. That alone gave it off, but strangely, he was the only one to realize that for some reason.

Doc carefully observed the couple, Lightning and Sally, both secretly whispering to each other near the café. They seemed to be quietly debating over something rather important, and Doc eventually started to notice that Sally shifted on her tires while appearing a bit troubled. After a few more minutes of intently watching, Sally finally drove off with a small exhale to go speak with Flo.

Immediately snatching up the opportunity, Doc slowly drove over to Lightning and cleared his throat on purpose, to catch his attention.

"Hey, Kid..." Doc said in a slightly low voice, almost whispering.

"Oh, hey Doc. What's going on?" Lightning formally asked, flashing him a somewhat semi-fake smile.

"I could ask you the same thing." Doc stared at him expectantly, watching as he shifted uneasily under his stare.

"T-There's nothing wrong, what makes you think that-?"

"You're stuttering, kid." Doc abruptly interrupted him. "Second, Sally clearly looks bothered by something; which she hasn't been showing any signs of worry in weeks. Thirdly, I heard that you're not feeling yourself either; Sleeping nearly the entire day and just waking up a couple of hours ago? It's 7 O'clock, in case you didn't know. Is there something going on behind our backs that we should know about...?" Doc straightforwardly told Lightning, his eyes slightly wide in surprise.

"Doc, I just don't want you to get involved in this and-"

"So there _is _something going on..." Doc said, faintly smirking at himself for knowing even before he was told.

"Listen, it's just that...- I..." Lightning stumbled over his words and sighed before speaking more properly this time.

"I guess it's about time I talk to you about this... But let's go somewhere else, I don't want anybody else knowing yet." Lightning whispered, leading Doc to the other empty side of town.

"Alright, what's goin' on, Kid?" Doc asked impatiently.

"It's about the carnapping that happened a while ago..." Lightning muttered, glancing at the ground a bit.

"And what about it?" Doc mumbled, his interest in the problem growing larger.

"It's been bothering me endlessly for the past few days. I can't help but think about who was in charge of all of that and what the heck they wanted with 'me'. I can't take it anymore, which is why I've told Sally that I'm going to find the person who caused this disturbance and confront him face to face."

Doc suddenly shot Lightning a baffled look.

"How in the world are you going to make that possible? That Car could be _anywhere_ right now!"

Lightning faintly exhaled in displeasure, but then only a moment later, a small-determined smile formed.

"I'll figure out a way."

"Lightnin', you're out of your mind."

"I have to do it; I need to know who's behind all this!" Lightning indomitably shouted; accidentally a bit too loud, too.

"Are you sure you can really handle doing that, kid...?" Doc slightly muttered, staring at him in surprise.

Lightning's lips curved into a valiant smirk, replying to the former racecar champion in ease.

"Well, you know, when there's a will, there's a way."

* * *

><p>AN: So, I just remembered that I haven't described what Lena looked like. If you read, I've described a little bit of her, just for now anyway. Wisteria is like a very light shade of Lavender; I looked it up on Wikipedia. lol And also, a few other side notes: Convivial means happy and fun. Valiant means brave and all that kind of stuff. Just in case you wanted to know! And indomitably is another word for valiant, but more like "unbeatable" and "invincible". I hope this chapter was long enough for you guys, please leave a review or tell me on what you think might happen next! I may use a twist ending, all depending on your guys' reviews. A big thank you for all of you being so wonderfully patient with me, it was horrible just not updating in such a long time, my goodness! But, I can assure you that I'll be updating much more often and finally get this story done since i have lots of free time on my hands, now. Again, thank you all, I really appreciate all of the support and reviews. :)


	22. Chapter 22: Unconcealed

Rain lightly pelted down over the small town of Radiator Springs, thunder lowly growling in the mystical-looking sky. Everybody in town took cover in their own protective shelter, deciding to stay indoors for the rest of the night. Although earlier in the day, it was sunny and warm, Mother Nature on the other hand, decided that she had other plans for tonight.

Back at the Cozy Cone, Lightning and Sally had taken shelter in the front lobby. The couple had stood in silence, but it wasn't a heavy, awkward silence; it was much more serene and calmer this time. Whatever it was, possibly being the soothing sounds of the rain, it was wonderful.

Lightning glanced up from his corner of the room, eyeing at Sally who was neutrally reading a newspaper. He faintly smiled to himself, having a bit of a simple idea in mind and drove up to her, giving her a small little kiss merely inches away from her lips. She immediately became alert of her surroundings again and side-glanced at Lightning with a slightly befuddled look clouding her eyes.

This time before she could even open her mouth to speak, he swiftly captured her lips in a tender kiss. Her eyes slightly widened at his sudden action, but eventually found herself swept off her tires; she was so caught up in the kiss, the newspaper she was reading was long forgotten.

The second he gently broke the kiss, Sally fluttered her eyes back open to gaze at Lightning with a soft expression as a small chuckle nearly escaped past her lips.

"Was there a reason for that, Stickers?" She smiled at seeing his lips curve into a smile of his own.

"What; is it wrong for me to love my girlfriend…?" Lightning spoke in his usual soft and mellow voice, warmly chuckling.

"No, no, not at all. I was only caught off guard, that's it…" She honestly replied, but was suddenly startled by a crackling of thunder outside.

In natural instinct, Lightning slightly nuzzled himself against her, something he had picked up not too long ago that it was one of the many things she loved about him. In response, she huddled against him with a warm smile, sitting for a while longer in silence.

Lightning, on the other hand, was secretly pondering over his own thoughts as the both of them were supposedly enjoying their moment. It had to be at the worst of times, that he felt as if someone was nearby, watching them. Which in fact, was what he was thinking about.

He uptightly glanced around at his surroundings for a swift second and accidentally muttered something incoherent under his breath, which unfortunately was something he always did when he was nervous or tense. Hoping Sally hadn't just heard a sound come from him, he found no response from her the first few seconds, but abruptly she turned herself a bit to glance up at him.

"Did you say someth-?"

"N-No, I didn't; don't worry." He immediately cut her off mid-sentence, terribly hiding the fact that he was nervous about something.

She stared at him in confusion, wondering what got into him all of the sudden. Not in a while, has she seen him so suddenly tense. This caused her to feel a tinge of uneasiness spark inside her, staring at him with a serious expression.

"Stickers, what's wrong all of the sudden?" She semi-boldly asked, but only received a 'Shh' in reply.

And in a mere 8 seconds later, just as she was about to speak up again, Lightning impetuously grabbed a hold of her tire, bringing her to the seemingly safest corner of the room.

Starting to get a little startled by what was going on, she slightly winced at the thunder deafeningly cracking outside, but kept her stern gaze towards Lightning.

"What's going on?" She asked with only two emotions mixed in her voice. Seriousness and concern.

"I... don't know..." He faintly muttered in concentration over something, using himself as a shield to protect Sally from any harm that might be nearby. He valiantly stood in front of her, his eyes narrowed in almost a glare.

"Sally. Don't move." He demanded, freezing in place himself. She quite easily obeyed his command, but her mind was racing with thoughts. What was going on? Was there someone here?

She slowly looked away and momentarily closed her eyes, still listening to her surroundings. And in only a matter of four seconds, Lightning broke the silence. He blurted out an unfamiliar name Sally had never even heard of before, but Lightning shakily whispered out loud.

"Landon..."

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><p>AN: Do you guys know who Landon is? Of course, you guys do! and f.y.i, I don't really know where i'm headed next with this, i'm only doing what I feel is right and fits the moment. If you _do_ have any ideas, feel free to enlighten me; hahah


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